If voters put term limits on appellate court judges by adding Amendment 40 to the state constitution, crime victims and families in crisis would suffer as cases began to backlog, a coalition of advocacy groups said today.

The umbrella group Vote No 40 said the courts would be scrambling to replace 70 percent of the state Supreme Court justices and nearly 40 percent of Colorado Court of Appeals judges if voters approve the measure next month.

"It is children and families who would pay the price," said Becky Miller Updike, state director of Every Child Matters, one of 57 organizations that oppose the measure. Those range from the Colorado ACLU to the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce to the County Sheriffs of Colorado, and include both the college Republicans and Democrats at the University of Denver law school.

Amendment 40 would limit judges on the state Supreme Court or the Court of Appeals to 10 years of service. That would mean five of the seven justices on the state Supreme Court would be forced out in January 2009. On the Court of Appeals, seven of the 19 judges would have to leave at the start of 2009.

Former state senate president John Andrews, who leads the group pushing the measure, Limit the Judges, called the backlog warning "an unfounded scare scenario." He also discounted concern over losing so many experienced judges at once.

"Whatever learning curve that would be involved is more than compensated by the opportunity for stale and overly politicized members of the bench to be replaced by fresh faces," Andrews said.

Former Colorado Court of Appeals Judge Marsha Piccone disagreed.

"Amendment 40 would delay justice to individuals across our state battling for their livelihood, safety and security,’’ Piccone said. "For the stability of Colorado, it’s not just advocacy organizations that need certainty and continuity in the interpretation of state law, but all citizens."