Editorial: Agosti will be missed

Friday, April 16, 2004 | 5:01 a.m.

WEEKEND EDITION

April 17 - 18, 2004

Nevada will lose a fine public servant in Supreme Court Justice Deborah Agosti, who announced last week that she will not run for a second six-year term. Agosti cited a period of time this year when she was hospitalized. Even though now recovered, she said she doesn't want to risk her health by undertaking all the time, energy and travel that a campaign demands.

Agosti, who was a Washoe County district judge for 14 years before running for the Supreme Court in 1998, brought more than her experience to the bench. She also brought her professionalism, which was needed on a court that had been divisive in the years before her arrival.

Her most high-profile case was the one brought last year by Gov. Kenny Guinn, who was seeking to break a legislative stalemate over taxes. As chief justice, Agosti wrote the majority (6-1) opinion that the constitutional mandate to fund education prevailed over its requirement for a two-thirds vote to raise taxes. In a year when anti-tax sentiment in Nevada reached a fever pitch, Agosti showed courage in correctly interpreting the constitution, rather than bowing to pressure groups. We will miss her and the courage and integrity she brought to the high court.