Judiciary
Justice Kennedy Warns of ‘Crisis’ Over Judicial Pay
Posted Mar 14, 2008, 07:00 am CDT
By Debra Cassens Weiss
Justice Anthony M. Kennedy told a House subcommittee yesterday that the failure to give federal judges a pay raise has reached the level of a “constitutional crisis.”
A proposal to hike judicial pay has made some progress in both houses of Congress, but nothing is final, Legal Times reports. Kennedy and a fellow justice, Clarence Thomas, both urged quick action.
"We are losing our best judges; we can't attract them, we can't retain them,” Kennedy told the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government. "If we don't get relief, there will be an exodus of judges” leaving the bench for jobs at triple the pay in arbitration and private practice.
Both justices said they disagree with proposals to tie a pay raise to limits on the amounts judges can earn by teaching or speaking engagements. Teaching is "a wonderful way to think about the law,” Thomas said.
Kennedy also called for pay raises in testimony last year (PDF), according to the ABA Governmental Affairs Office, which lists pay for Supreme Court justices at $203,000 and for district court judges at $165,200.
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Comments
Posted by John - 5 months, 3 weeks, 1 day, 12 hours, 30 minutes ago
Great. Let them all quit and appoint Judges that know what the real practice of law is like. It does not involve summer breaks and berating indiviudals that appear in front ot them. Stop giving them life appts, and have them go back to the real world so they can appreciat it and learn how hard it is to earn six figures, buy insurance and save for retirment.
Posted by irwin Eisenstein - 5 months, 3 weeks, 1 day, 11 hours, 40 minutes ago
There are always many issues related to pay raises. One difficulty is that just like Congress - it is very difficult to evaluate judges as long as the evaluation is done by other judges and lawyers.
Our legal system has become one that is beyond the capabilities of the average person and is now a specialty. Even if one understands the laws and rules - judges frequently discount arguments by non-attorneys. I am sure that was not the intent of the framers.
Some judges should be paid more, and others should be thrown off the bench or put in jail cells.
judges are human, we frequently see them as god like figures because if we do not, we lose in court. This was not the original intent of the framers.
I had an opportunity to appear before Judge Wixtrim in Florida. That experience was very positive and I gained a new respect for the system in criminal trials.
Posted by Alvin DeDonis - 5 months, 3 weeks, 1 day, 7 hours, 22 minutes ago
Kwitcherbitchin! These judges always want more! You’d think they didn’t get enough in the way of honorariums, have people treating them like their feces don’t stink, and otherwise get to run around wearing black robes on the taxpayers’ dime. They’re making plenty and if they don’t like it, leave and we’ll get some other yutz to wear the black robes. Believe me there are plenty of law firm partners who couldn’t wait to retire to one of these plush jobs where 9-5 is a long day. Bunch of ingrates!! I say leave and we’ll get some new blood in now!