WE the People — Louisiana is campaigning for a NO vote on Amendment 5, one of five constitutional amendments on the May 16, 2026 ballot. The amendment would raise the mandatory retirement age for Louisiana judges from 70 to 75, with a term-completion clause that permits a judge who turns 75 during a current term to complete that term — meaning, for judges on the Louisiana Supreme Court and Courts of Appeal serving 10-year terms, a practical retirement ceiling as high as age 84. Louisiana voters have rejected substantively identical proposals twice before — in 1995 by 62%–38%, and in 2014 in 62 of 64 parishes. The campaign calls Amendment 5 "repackaged entrenchment" and urges voters to "retire the judges, revitalize the third branch." The campaign's broader closing argument is that the repetition of rejected proposals across Amendments 4 and 5 demonstrates the structural need for Louisiana to adopt the right of citizen initiative — a reform available in 26 other states but not, as of 2026, in Louisiana.
"Amendment 5 is the third time Louisiana voters have been asked whether to raise the judicial retirement age from 70 to 75. The first time, in 1995, voters rejected it 62 to 38. The second time, in 2014, voters rejected it in 62 of 64 parishes. A legislature that asks the same question a third time is a legislature that does not respect its own referendum results. Louisiana voters should answer the same way they have answered twice before. The answer has not changed. It should not need to change."
"The amendment's ballot language includes a term-completion clause. That clause matters. A judge elected to a 10-year Court of Appeal term at age 74 — turning 75 during year one — can, under Amendment 5, serve the full 10-year term. That judge leaves the bench at 84. This is not a worst-case reading. It is the plain operation of the amendment as written. Voters deserve to know that 'retirement age 75' means, in practice, a ceiling of 84 for appellate judges whose election timing works out that way."
"Entrenchment is the political-science term for a rules-change that benefits the specific people currently holding office. When a sitting Legislature refers to voters an amendment extending the tenure of the sitting judiciary, it is proposing, in effect, that voters approve a set of individual tenure extensions for specific identifiable incumbents. Voters are the check on that kind of self-dealing. In 1995 and 2014, Louisiana voters performed that check. Amendment 5 asks them to perform it a third time. They should."
"The single most valuable thing on the Louisiana bench is its capacity to refresh. Every retirement makes room for a new judge, often a judge from a demographic, professional, or regional background underrepresented on the bench today. Louisiana's bench is not demographically representative of Louisiana's population — not by race, not by gender, not by practice-area background. Orderly turnover is how that slowly changes. Amendment 5 delays every such change by five years, in some cases by nine. Fresh blood delayed is fresh blood denied."
"State Sen. Alan Seabaugh — a Republican from Shreveport, not a natural ally of the broader WE the People campaign on most issues — reminded the Senate floor in June 2025 that the same amendment failed in 62 of 64 parishes in 2014. 'Your constituents voted no,' he said. That is the most accurate statement of the case against Amendment 5 that any public official has made. It deserves to be repeated until May 16."
"The national pattern is clear. Voters in ten states since 2011 have decided on ten ballot measures raising judicial retirement ages. Voters approved one — Pennsylvania, 51 to 49, in a confused ballot-language context. Nine rejections, one razor-thin approval. In New Hampshire in 2024, an identical proposal received 65.6 percent support and still failed because New Hampshire requires two-thirds. Louisiana's simple-majority rule means 65.6 percent would pass here. That is an argument for additional scrutiny, not less."
"The deeper argument is structural. Amendments 4 and 5 on the May 16 ballot are each policies that Louisiana voters previously rejected — re-proposed by the Legislature on the theory that eventually the electorate will change its mind. Louisiana does not have the right of citizen initiative, which 26 other states have. That right allows voters to place proposals on the ballot themselves and includes procedural rules that bar re-submission of rejected policies within a waiting period. Without citizen initiative, Louisianans can say no to a proposal forever without ever being able to stop being asked. The closing argument of this campaign is not only to vote NO on Amendment 5. It is to sign the petition for Louisiana to join the 26 initiative states — statewide and by parish."
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