Posted on 01/01/2007 7:26:14 AM PST by indcons
Pay for federal judges is so inadequate that it threatens to undermine the judiciary's independence, Chief Justice John Roberts says in a year-end report critical of Congress.
Issuing an eight-page message devoted exclusively to salaries, Roberts says the 678 full-time U.S. District Court judges, the backbone of the federal judiciary, are paid about half that of deans and senior law professors at top schools.
In the 1950s, 65 percent of U.S. District Court judges came from the practicing bar and 35 percent came from the public sector. Today the situation is reversed, Roberts said, with 60 percent from the public sector and less than 40 percent from private practice.
Federal district court judges are paid $165,200 annually; appeals court judges make $175,100; associate justices of the Supreme Court earn $203,000; the chief justice gets $212,100.
Thirty-eight judges have left the federal bench in the past six years and 17 in the past two years.
The issue of pay, says Roberts, "has now reached the level of a constitutional crisis."
"Inadequate compensation directly threatens the viability of life tenure, and if tenure in office is made uncertain, the strength and independence judges need to uphold the rule of law - even when it is unpopular to do so - will be seriously eroded," Roberts wrote.
(Excerpt) Read more at seattlepi.nwsource.com ...
Perhaps they should consider stacking the courts with illegal aliens - they could pay them $8/hour under-the-table.
/sarcasm...
It's our system..don't like it change it.
That's not a response. You mocked the idea that taxes are paid under threat of deadly force.
I haven't seen any IRS Gestapo with guns lately so I guess I don't have a real handle on what your point is.
We live we die and hopeful vote to pay the minimum tax. I prefer that to a socialist state.
Having just finished 5 1/2 years working for the government, I can safely say that when it comes to government jobs, pay has little influence in whether employees are "dredged from the bottom quartile" or from higher-up on the capabilities chart. In fact, while our pay was at or above the industry norm for our type of work, the apparent level of intelligence and performance was below average. Indeed, political prowess supersedes intellectual capacity and work ethic in the public work sector.
In many cases, we already have many of the lowest performers in positions of responsibility within our government. And if someone arrives with ambition, they will quickly be beaten down until they reach the level necessary to prevent thinking for their self or acting outside of the plethora of constantly-changing "procedures".
Nice balance, I would say.
Somehow, I doubt that raising pay will equate to a weaker lust for power among the judiciary. Especially those on the left.
$165K with a wife and a couple of kids is not a lot of money for DC. You can likely make it work if you have preexisting wealth but if not then the wife is going to likely be working as well.
Sorry but your logic does not compute.
Lawyers are, by nature, POND SCUM. Do not give them any more due than they deserve.
The Constitution does NOT require a law degree to be on the Supreme Court.
I would trust the opinion of the average idiot on the street as much as a federal judge.
Once they get appointed and confirmed for LIFE, they are little GODS and know it. They are not desperate for cash.
Maybe if you buy a a house in Old Town or McClean, or a condo right downtown. But I can't see anyone having trouble with that amount on Capitol Hill, Southwest or Columbia Heights, or anywhere in Fairfax County.
Where have I heard this before?
Yes just like raising the pay for teachers made the schools better. Its for the children.
Now its raise the pay for judges. Its for the country.
This is public service. The free market doesn't apply here.
2. A low-paid judge is a bribable judge.
That judge had no principles to begin with. Pay has nothing to do with it. There are lots of honorable judges who make (in their sense) far less than those who work in the private legal sector.
3. There are some things in life that you don't price-shop.
And there are other forms of employment for judges if they feel they don't make enough in the public sector. That's why it's called public service. You do it for your country & community, not for the money.
I've already been to the other "forums". They are Nucking Fruts.
You sound like you have given up...why?
Feel free to Freepmail me. Press the private reply button.
Roberts can tell it to the Marines.
In other words take his whine to our servicemen and women, all of whom make a heck of a lot less than Roberts and his brethren.
If anyone in government gets a pay raise, it ought to be our servicemen and women.
And then there's the prestige, perks, and POWER.
Oh yeah, and the speaking fees.
Roberts and everybody else who believes the way he believes are going to find that increasing the pay of judges is a really tough sell as long as scumbag liberal activist judges continue to urinate in people's faces as they shamelessly overturn, by fiat, the will of the public.
If judges like Roberts want to help expose and dump these judges who want nothing more than to please the liberal newsrooms and the "jackpot justice" trial attorney lobby which keeps them in their pockets, THEN they can ask for more money.
I have a friend who worked at Bell Labs for a long time and who has a number of patents in his name; however, as a condition of employment the company keeps any money earned from the practical application of the patents.
The perks of the job - ie creating cutting edge technology - was more important than $$$ to him.
You are leaving out one of the more visible perks of the job - the power and prestige gained by serving as a SC justice.
Put a price tag on that and then tell me any SC justice, state or federal, is undercompensated.
Go look up real estate values in Fairfax county and tell me what $500K gets you. Since I lived up there not too long ago I can tell you that it buys you a 20 year old house in Hernandez (Herndon). If you live in the District you have to pay for private school because no one with any smarts sends their kids to public school there.
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