[Poohbah]

IIRC, there is precedent for Congress closing entire courts and retiring the judges. Something from the Jefferson administration or thenabouts. I don't know if the precedent's been overturned or not.

How long would it take for a judge to overrule that, especially when it conflicts with the plain language of the Constitution? Two nanoseconds? :o)

[inquest]

According to Findlaw, the practice was never fully struck down, although it has been frowned upon and fallen largely out of use. But then, we've never since then seen such a drastic reduction in revenue as would result from the invalidation of federal income tax.

For what it's worth, I agree with you that it would be completely unconstitutional to strip a good-behaving judge of his office and salary under any circumstances, but that's not necessarily a predictor of what would actually happen.