BUZZ
Idea criticized by legal scholars
Democrats should push through legislation to lower the mandatory retirement age of Virginia Supreme Court in order to remove justices who ruled a gerrymandered map unconstitutional, a “democracy” scholar argued.
Quinn Yeargain, who uses “they/them/theirs” pronouns and whose real name is Tyler, made the argument on Saturday. Yeargain is the “1855 Professor of Law of Democracy” at Michigan State University, according to the scholar’s faculty website.
Writing at Downballot, Yeargain said Democrats should lower the retirement age to 54, outwardly saying the goal would be to remove the youngest justice who made what the professor considers the wrong decision.
Yeargain wrote on May 8:
States around the country with similar laws mandate retirement across a wide range of ages. Virginia lawmakers can simply lower theirs. Make it 54 for Supreme Court justices—the age of the youngest justice, Stephen McCullough, who joined the majority opinion—and make it take effect immediately.
Yeargain said this is the best solution to get through the gerrymandered map.
“Democrats might prefer other solutions, but if they want to see the will of the voters respected in time for the November elections, there are virtually no other options—and none with as good a chance of success as this one,” the professor wrote.
However, legal scholars have questioned the idea, with Professor Jonathan Turley calling the proposal “abusive.”
He warned:
Notably, the sack-and-pack scheme sets aside any pretense of principle. The Democrats would simply adopt a ridiculously low retirement age for the sole purpose of populating the court with reliable and robotic justices. The fact that an academic and various pundits would expressly float such an idea is another chilling reminder of the growing radicalization on the left.
Other legal experts joined in with criticism.
“The idea that the Virginia legislature could remove state supreme court justices by lowering the mandatory retirement age and applying that lower retirement age to *existing* justices is bonkers,” Ed Whelan wrote. “And a majority (perhaps all) of the Virginia supreme court justices would rule that such a measure violates the state constitution.”
The Virginia constitution provides one means for removing judges: impeachment by the House of Delegates, followed by conviction by 2/3 of the Senate. The idea that the Virginia legislature could remove state supreme court justices by lowering the mandatory retirement age and… https://t.co/47Hd0N4Bmh
— Ed Whelan (@EdWhelanEPPC) May 11, 2026
Attorney David Sutzer said the idea is “an outrageous exercise of raw political power that would go a step too far.”
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