MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) – Four justices of the Supreme Court, including three who participated in the court’s 1999 groundbreaking decision on gay rights, came before a legislative committee in the first step of a process that will determine if they remain on the bench.

Under the Vermont system, governors appoint judges; the Senate confirms them, and then every six years the Legislature, meeting in joint session, votes by secret ballot whether to keep the judges in office.

For the Supreme Court justices that vote will come this March.

All four – there is one vacancy on the court – told a special legislative committee that they love their jobs and want to remain on the bench.

Their tenure varies from the 17 years of Justice John Dooley, who said he is one of the longest serving justices in state history, to the just over one year of Paul Reiber, who was appointed chief justice just three months ago.

In between are Justices Denise Johnson, who has served 14 years, and Marilyn Skoglund, who has served seven years.

“I think I do it better than when I started,” said Dooley.

All four justices went out of their way to praise their colleagues and to say that the court is a collegial group.

“We work well together,” said Reiber. “That does not mean we agree all the time. We disagree at times.”

“The fact is we can only act as the whole court,” said Dooley. “None of us has the power to enter any decision, whether it is controversial or simple. We have to get our colleagues to go along. Most of the time we do.”

Three of the four – all but Reiber – survived a campaign to oust them in 1999 by opponents of the court’s 1997 decision declaring the state’s system of financing education unconstitutional.

In 1999, the legislative retention vote was close only for Dooley, who won 105-71. Johnson had 22 negative votes while Skoglund had just 13.

Since then, though, the court generated even more controversy with its precedent-setting 1999 decision saying same-sex couples deserve the benefits of marriage.

Johnson was the only justice to mention that decision at the legislative committee meeting, noting that “this retention period started out with a bang – the Baker case,” as the case is known.

In answering questions from lawmakers, Johnson later said the Baker case, in which the court based its ruling on rights found in the Vermont Constitution, reflected “a growing movement in the country on state constitutional jurisprudence.

“The state constitution, in my view, is an independent source of authority,” she said.

The legislative committee will hold a public hearing on the justices on Feb. 3 at the Statehouse. The committee members will then meet again with the justices to let them respond to anything said at the hearings. The full House and Senate would then vote on the justices March 17.