19 Fair empl.prac.cas. 418, 19 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 9188 Raymond E. Trafelet v. James R. Thompson

TONE, Circuit Judge.

This action challenges the constitutionality of the Illinois Compulsory Retirement of Judges Act. Section 1 of that Act, Ill.Rev. Stat. ch. 37 § 23.71 (1977), provides in substance that a judge is automatically retired after the next general election following his 70th birthday. 1 Section 2, id. § 23.72, creates grandfather exceptions to § 1, which, so far as they are pertinent here, allow the excepted judges to remain in office until they have served long enough to secure certain pension rights. 2 After a trial, the district court held that the Act did not violate either…