An Act to Ensure Equal Treatment by the Law Court by Requiring Justices to Decide All Cases
Maine Legislature, Session 131, LD 1468
Committee: Judiciary
Sponsors: BENNETT
Amends: 4 MRSA §6, 4 MRSA §51, 4 MRSA §123, 4 MRSA §157-F

Legislative Document
No. 1468
S.P. 587
In Senate, April 5, 2023
An Act to Ensure Equal Treatment by the Law Court by Requiring 
Justices to Decide All Cases
Reference to the Committee on Judiciary suggested and ordered printed.
DAREK M. GRANT
Secretary of the Senate
Presented by Senator BENNETT of Oxford.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  4 MRSA §6, as amended by PL 2019, c. 475, §35, is further amended to 
read:
§6.  Active Retired Justices
Any Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court, who has retired from the court under this 
chapter in effect prior to December 1, 1984, or any Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court 
who retires or terminates service on the court in accordance with chapter 27, except for a 
disability retirement, is eligible for appointment as an Active Retired Justice of the Supreme 
Judicial Court as provided. The Governor may, subject to review by the joint standing 
committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over judiciary and to confirmation by the 
Legislature, appoint any eligible justice as an Active Retired Justice of the Supreme Judicial 
Court for a term of 7 years, unless sooner removed, and that justice may be reappointed for 
a like term. Any justice appointed and designated as an Active Retired Justice of the 
Supreme Judicial Court constitutes a part of the court from which the Justice retired and 
has the same jurisdiction and is subject to the same restrictions as before retirement, except 
that the Active Retired Justice may only be assigned to sit on civil or criminal actions and 
proceedings before the Law Court as provided in section 51 and may act only in the all 
other cases and matters and hold court only at the terms and times as directed and assigned 
by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court. The Chief Justice is empowered and 
authorized to assign and designate an Active Retired Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court 
as to that justice's services and may direct as to which term of the Law Court the Active 
Retired Justice attends, and, except as provided in section 51, may order the Active Retired 
Justice to hear all matters and issue all orders, notices, decrees and judgments in vacation 
that any Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court is authorized to hear or issue.
Sec. 2.  4 MRSA §51, as amended by PL 2007, c. 518, §1, is further amended to 
read:
§51.  Constitution of court; concurrence required
When sitting as a Law Court to determine questions of law arising in any civil or 
criminal action or proceeding, the Supreme Judicial Court must be composed as provided 
by rules adopted by that court of a panel of 7 justices and shall hear and determine such 
questions by the concurrence of a majority of the 7 justices sitting and qualified to act in 
accordance with this section.
If, at any point in time prior to the issuance of a final judgment in any civil or criminal 
action or proceeding before the Law Court, fewer than 7 Justices of the Supreme Judicial 
Court are available to sit and qualified to act on the questions of law arising in the action 
or proceeding, the clerk of the Law Court shall randomly assign, from the pool of all Active 
Retired Justices of the Supreme Judicial Court appointed under section 6, a sufficient 
number of Active Retired Justices to sit on the panel so that the panel is composed of a total 
of 7 justices.  If an insufficient number of justices and Active Retired Justices of the 
Supreme Judicial Court is available to sit and qualified to act on the questions of law arising 
in any civil or criminal action or proceeding before the Law Court, the clerk of the Law 
Court shall, in addition to assigning all available and qualified Active Retired Justices of 
the Supreme Judicial Court to sit on the panel, randomly assign, from the pool of all Justices 
of the Superior Court qualified for assignment to the Law Court under section 123 and of 
all Judges of the District Court qualified for assignment to the Law Court under section 
157-F, a sufficient number of Justices of the Superior Court and Judges of the District Court 
to sit on the panel as justices to ensure that the panel is composed of a total of 7 justices.
The designation of an Active Retired Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court, a Justice 
of the Superior Court or a Judge of the District Court to sit on a panel of the Law Court 
must be docketed in the record of the action or proceeding to which the justice or judge has 
been assigned.
The Supreme Judicial Court shall adopt rules necessary to carry out the requirements 
of this section.
Sec. 3.  4 MRSA §123 is enacted to read:
§123.  Justice of the Superior Court eligible to sit on the Law Court
The clerk of the Law Court may assign any Justice of the Superior Court who has 
served for at least 5 years as a Justice of the Superior Court and who has volunteered for 
assignment to the Law Court to sit on the panel for a civil or criminal action or proceeding 
before the Law Court as provided in section 51.  When so assigned, the justice has the same 
authority and jurisdiction as a regular Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court and may issue 
all orders, notices and opinions that a Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court sitting on the 
panel for the same action or proceeding may issue.
Sec. 4.  4 MRSA §157-F is enacted to read:
§157-F.  Judge of the District Court eligible to sit on the Law Court
The clerk of the Law Court may assign any Judge of the District Court who has served 
for at least 5 years as a Judge of the District Court and who has volunteered for assignment 
to the Law Court to sit on the panel for a civil or criminal action or proceeding before the 
Law Court as provided in section 51.  When so assigned, the judge has the same authority 
and jurisdiction as a regular Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court and may issue all orders, 
notices and opinions that a Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court sitting on the panel for 
the same action or proceeding may issue.
SUMMARY
This bill requires that, when the Supreme Judicial Court is sitting as a Law Court to 
determine questions of law arising in any civil or criminal action or proceeding, the case 
must be decided by all 7 Justices of the Supreme Judicial Court if they are available to sit 
and qualified to act on the proceeding.  
In the event that less than all 7 Justices of the Supreme Judicial Court are available to 
sit and qualified to act, the clerk of the Law Court must randomly assign a sufficient number 
of Active Retired Justices of the Supreme Judicial Court to serve on the Law Court panel 
to ensure that the panel of the Law Court is composed of 7 justices.  If an insufficient 
number of Active Retired Justices of the Supreme Judicial Court is available to serve, the 
clerk of the Law Court must, in addition to assigning all available and qualified Active 
Retired Justices of the Supreme Judicial Court, randomly assign a sufficient number of 
Justices of the Superior Court and Judges of the District Court to sit as justices on the panel 
to ensure that the panel is composed of a total of 7 justices.  Any Justice of the Superior 
Court or Judge of the District Court with at least 5 years of experience who has volunteered 
for assignment to the Law Court is eligible for assignment to sit on a panel of the Law 
Court under the bill.