Committee OKs Bill to Pay Federal Trial Judges $218K

Federal judges would get a pay raise for the first time in two decades under a bill approved by the House Judiciary Committee yesterday.

Trial level judges would earn $218,000 a year, up from their current pay of $165,200 a year, Legal Times reports. Appeals judges would be paid $231,000, Supreme Court associate justices would be paid $267,900, and the chief justice would be paid $279,000.

The bill, however, penalizes judges who retire for high-paying jobs in the private sector by cutting their pension $1 for every $2 they make above their salary as a federal judge.

The Senate Judiciary Committee takes up a similar bill today.