With mandatory retirement fight over, Moorhead judge reluctantly steps down

A Minnesota judge is reluctantly stepping down from the bench this week after reaching the mandatory retirement age of 70.

"Being a judge is a late life a profession from the standpoint of, the wisdom comes through years of work and service," said 7th Judicial District Judge Galen Vaa, noting that numerous federal judges have contributed significant work after 70.

"Revered judges, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Joseph Cardozo, and the list goes on and on, some of their greatest writings were when they were in their seventies," said Vaa.

Vaa sued to challenge the constitutionality of mandatory retirement for state judges. He does not think the Legislature has the authority to impose the requirement on the judicial branch.

"Imagine the hullaballoo if the Legislature said the governor had to retire at 70," said Vaa.

But the state Supreme Court refused to hear his legal arguments, deciding the question had been resolved by previous cases, including when Judge Gaylord Saetre challenged his forced retirement in 1986.

Vaa has been chambered in Moorhead since he was appointed by Gov. Jesse Ventura in 2000. Over the past few years he spent hundreds of hours preparing his lawsuit in hopes of staying on the bench a few more years.

Those extra years would boost his pension, but the real reason for challenging the law is philosophical.

Vaa was a private practice attorney for 25 years, specializing in complex civil cases. He says he took a pay cut when he was appointed to the bench, but he's never regretted the decision.

"The experience has been just great. I've loved the job and loved the people I work with," said Vaa. "When I have a good law clerk I love to play the devil's advocate and talk about, you know, 'why should the case go this way' or 'what do you think about this evidence'. That's what I will miss the most."

Vaa has been granted senior status as a judge, so he will spend a few days a month in the courtroom handling routine matters, but he won't be assigned cases or handle trials. He'll miss the challenge of trying to make sure people are treated fairly and perhaps, occasionally, playing a role in turning a life around.

"The successes sometimes can be few, but when they are, they are cause for great joy too", said Vaa during a recent interview in his chambers at the Clay County Courthouse.

"Every day you see things that are totally different, you know, then we talk about it afterwards, 'boy could you believe a what happened there'. You know, people get in the trouble in ways you couldn't imagine," said Vaa, who sees drugs, alcohol and mental illness as consistent reference points whatever the reason people appeared in his courtroom. "If you're not careful you can allow yourself to get burned out because we really do see a segment of society that the vast majority of people here in Minnesota never see."

Beyond his work as a senior judge, Vaa isn't sure what he will do to get the intellectual stimulation and sense of contributing to society that being a judge has provided. But he has his health, his mind is sharp and he still wants to contribute to society.

"Being a lawyer and judge now I think is about 45-46 years, it's a major change and I can already see it could be very traumatic. So I'm going to have to find something," he said.