Louisiana voters will decide on a constitutional amendment that would increase the judicial retirement age from 70 to 75. It will appear on the ballot on April 18, 2026.
Currently, 31 states and the District of Columbia have mandatory retirement ages for judges. These laws require judges to retire either upon reaching a specified age or at the end of the term during which they reach that age.
Of the 31 states with mandatory judicial retirement ages, 16 states, including Louisiana, set the age at 70, which is the lowest. Vermont has the highest, with a retirement age of 90, which voters approved in 2003.
Meanwhile, eight states have the retirement age set at 75—Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, and Washington (additionally, Missouri requires municipal judges to retire at 75, while all other judges must retire at 70). If Louisiana voters pass the proposed amendment on the ballot, it will join these states.
Last year, New Hampshire had a similar amendment on the ballot, which would have increased the mandatory judicial retirement age from 70 to 75. However, it failed because 66% voted to approve it and 34% voted to reject it; in New Hampshire, constitutional amendments require at least two-thirds approval to pass. The last constitutional amendment addressing judicial retirement ages that was approved was on the ballot in Pennsylvania in 2016, which changed the judicial retirement age from 70 to 75. This measure was approved by 51% of voters.
Louisiana also previously decided several amendments related to mandatory judicial retirement age. This included Amendment 4 in 1995, which would have raised the mandatory judicial retirement age from 70 to 75. Voters rejected Amendment 4, with 62% voting no and 38% voting yes.
The other amendments voters decided included Amendment 15 in 2003, which would have provided that a judge who reached mandatory retirement age while in office could complete his or her term, which voters approved, and Amendment 5 in 2014, which would have eliminated mandatory judicial retirement age requirements completely. Voters rejected the amendment, with 58% voting ‘no’ and 42% voting ‘yes.’
The Louisiana amendment, House Bill 63, was introduced on March 14, 2025. It passed the House by 81-16 on May 28 and passed the Senate by 26-13 on June 8.
State Sen. Gregory Miller (R-19), speaking in support of HB 63, said that compared to nearby states, Louisiana’s existing mandatory retirement age is an outlier. He said, “Texas has a 75-year-old mandatory retiring age. Florida has a 75 year retirement age. Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee and Kentucky have no mandatory retirement age.”
State Sen. Alan Seabaugh (R-31) opposed the amendment, bringing up the previous amendment Louisiana voters rejected. He said, “We put this on the ballot before. It failed in 62 out of 64 parishes. Your constituents voted no.”
Louisiana voters will be deciding this amendment, along with three other constitutional amendments, at a special election on April 18, 2026.
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