'Retirement' missing from vocabulary of NY judges

[xchrom]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_JUDGES_UNTIL_DEATH?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-02-26-13-02-10

NEW YORK (AP) -- Some are old enough to recall pioneering aviator Charles Lindbergh's tickertape parade. Others can share vivid memories of World War II or the Great Depression.

But unlike most people their age, New York City's federal judges prefer to strike one topic from the record: retirement.

"We don't talk about when anybody's going to quit or retire," says John F. Keenan, an 82-year-old Manhattan judge. "Some of the best judges we ever had ... they worked right up until they died."

The federal judicial system has become a case study in how the country will cope with a graying America, where each economic crisis forces more people to work beyond 65.

[JDPriestly]

1. The judges sit on the bench. Most likely their young clerks (who have law degrees)

master the facts of the cases, do the complex analysis of facts and law and write tentative decisions and orders.

What you see on the bench is not necessarily what you get.

The clerks tend to be the best students -- really bright people.