BY REBECCA SHEEHAN

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

Imagine putting in your time for over 39 years on the bench and finally reaching that healthy and relaxing point of retirement. That recently was the case for Superior Court Judge Peter V. Ryan, who was appointed back in 1974. On May 16^th, Ryan who recently turned 70 officially retired, but unlike the majority of retiree’s, Ryan returned back to the bench as a recall judge – like many of his peers.

Based on a report done by the Associated Press, Ryan, along with 73 other judges were called back on a temporary basis thanks to the judiciary budget paying them increasing considerably during the past five years, fueled by backlogged dockets and a political logjam slow to produce new appointments. Currently a retired judge is allowed to serve on recall for a few years depending on the need of the vicinity.

"Without the ability to recall, the system would come to a screeching halt," said Ryan to the Star-Ledger. "Especially now."

Back in April, the Morris County Public Defender's Office filed a motion arguing a judge sitting on recall older than 70 is working in violation of the state constitution. Now a separate state statute allows retired judges to return to the bench and does now explicitly state an exception to the 70-year-old age limit, which is written into the constitution. The motion was denied in Superior Court and is currently being considered by the Appellate Division.

"Just because someone doesn't like a particular recall judge shouldn't create a situation where we're looking to disqualify all of them," Attorney Eric Kahn, who is president of the Union County Bar Association said in a recent article. "It's a potentially dangerous tactic. If the court finds use of recall judges unconstitutional, we'd lose upwards of 73 judges and the courts, certain aspects, would completely shut down."

The number of recall judges will likely continue to increase with 18 judges hitting mandatory retirement by the end of 2014, according to court records. Currently, New York is among 32 states and Washington, D.C., which have mandatory retirement ages for at least some judges, while 20 states have no age restrictions, according to the National Center for State Courts.

"It's just unbelievable that we have this retirement age," said Judith Kaye, New York's chief judge of the Court of Appeals until 2008, when the law forced her to retire, to the Wall Street Journal. "You see federal judges serving happily and fruitfully into their 80s and 90s.”.

According to Rutgers-Camden Law professor Perry Dane, recall judges are paid $300 a day and cannot stay on the bench past the age of 80, with few exceptions. Their salary together with their pension cannot exceed the salary of a current justice or judge in the court from which they retired.