Thursday, April 15, 2004 | 10:52 a.m.
CARSON CITY -- Justice Deborah Agosti, who wrote the controversial opinion permitting a tax increase without a constitutional two-thirds vote by the Legislature, said this morning she would not run for a second term on the Nevada Supreme Court.
Agosti, 52, of Reno initially said she would seek re-election but announced this morning she has decided to leave the court in January because of health reasons.
She was the author of the 6-1 decision that ruled that the constitutional mandate to fund education prevailed over its requirement of a two-thirds vote to raise taxes. A hearing on that issue is before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif., today.
The decision, and Agosti, were criticized by many tax opponents. Opponents planning to run for Agosti's seat have mentioned the decision.
Agosti said the conflict over the decision did not play a role in her decision to retire from the court.
Agosti said she discussed the election with her physicians and her children.
"While I am healthy, eager and capable of addressing the day-to-day workload of the court, I have been advised that the rigors of a campaign, with nearly nonstop travel and appearances, necessitated by Nevada's vast geography would be detrimental to my health," she said.
She said she had a "cardiac condition" and was hospitalized earlier this year and needed surgery to prevent atrophy of her left arm.
She said she believed she could win the election in November, but "I am unwilling to jeopardize my health or compromise my commitment to my family in order to pursue that ambition."
She said she has been a judge for nearly 22 years but "I must place consideration of health first so I can be fully available to fulfill my most important role, that of being a mother to my sons."
Agosti is the second justice to decide against seeking re-election this year. Chief Justice Miriam Shearing said she will not go for a third term. Justice Bob Rose has said he will not seek re-election when his term ends in three years on the seven-member court.
The decision means the seven-member court will have a facelift. Two of the three female justices are stepping down. Only Justice Nancy Becker will remain.
Those who have expressed interest so far in running for the Supreme Court include John Mason, an entertainment lawyer from Lake Tahoe, Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Douglas Smith and former state Sen. Don Ashworth, also of Las Vegas. Others who are considering running for a justice seat include District Judge Dianne Steel of Las Vegas and District Judge James Hardesty of Reno.
This opens up two seats on the court for challengers to choose from.
Gov. Kenny Guinn recently named District Judge Michael Douglas of Las Vegas to succeed the late Myron Leavitt, who died in January. Douglas, who will be sworn in next month, will have to run for re-election in November.
In recent cases Agosti wrote the majority opinions for: a 4-2 ruling that annulled the Las Vegas marriage of a 15-year-old girl to her 48-year old guitar teacher; a 4-2 ruling that upheld the murder conviction of Margaret Rudin, found guilty of murder of her real-estate husband in Las Vegas; and the 4-2 ruling that granted a new penalty hearing for Edward Bennett, sentenced to death for the fatal shooting of a convenience store clerk during a robbery in Las Vegas in 1998.
Agosti ran unopposed for the Supreme Court in 1998. Before that she served 14 years as a district judge in Washoe County, running twice for re-election without opposition.
She served two years as a justice of the peace in Reno and before that from 1979 to 1982 as a deputy district attorney in Washoe County, where she worked in the areas of juvenile and criminal law enforcement.
In 1997 she was honored as District Judge of the Year by the Nevada District Judges Association and was honored as the Outstanding Woman Lawyer by the Northern Nevada Women Lawyer's Association in 1993.
She earned a bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of Toledo in 1973 and her law degree from the University of Toledo College of Law in 1976.
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