Article 23 Paragraph (1) letter c stated that a constitution justice will be dismissed with respect when he reaches the age of 67. Constitution Justice H. Achmad Roestandi on March 1, 2008 celebrated his 67th anniversary, so technically Roestandi has reached his retirement period as a Constitution Justice. Even though so, the General Secretariat and Registrar of the Constitutional Court had made a confirmation to the State Secretariat (Setneg), that the President’s Decree (Keppres) that arranges the appointing and dismissal of a constitution justice would be issued on March 31, 2008. Because of that, administratively Roestandi is still holding the position as a constitution justice until March 31, 2008 the time when the Decree of Dismissal is issued by the State Secretariat.

That was stated by the Chief Justice of The Constitutional Court, Jimly Asshiddiqie, when he held the discussion with journalists and reporters from various printing and electronic media on Monday (10/3) at the Constitutional Court Building, Jakarta. In that opportunity, the Chief Justice also emphasized that Constitutional Court H.A. Roestandi being still active in handling cases and taking part in trials until March 31, 2008 was not an extention of the retirement period of the Constitution Justice. “Because the Constitution Justice’s term enacted effectively by President’s Decree. Now, the State Secretariat has said that the Decree will be issued at the end of this month,” said Jimly.

Further more the Chief Justice also said that the Constitutional Court gave a consideration that at the moment the selection process for the substitute constitution justice for Roestandi done by the Parliament had not been finished. Therefore if Roestandi was inactive while the replacement had not been found, it would affect the Constitutional Courts trials.

“The Constitutional Court is different from the common court that if a justice retires, it can be replaced by another. Whereas the number of constitution justices is limited, that actually in every trial in the Constitutional Court should meet the quorum number of justices,” he added.

The term for the constitution justices for the 2003-2008 period is going to end on August 15, 2008. However, before that time three justices will enter the maximum age as constitution justices in advance. Besides Constitution Justice H.A. Roestandi, other Constitution Justices who will be 67 years old are Constitution Justice H.M. Laica Marzuki on May 5, 2008 and Constitution Justice Soedarsono on June 5, 2008. Based on the same stipulation applied to Constitution Justice H.A. Roestandi, the other two justices will enter their retirement period effectively at the end of their month of birth.[] ardli