Roberts Tries Gentler Approach on Judge Pay Issue
Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. took a different tack when he asked for pay raises for judges in his annual year-end report on the federal judiciary.
Last year, Roberts was forceful in calling for a pay hike, but this year he sounded a conciliatory note, the New York Times reports.
“I simply ask once again for a moment’s reflection on how America would look in the absence of a skilled and independent judiciary,” the chief justice said. Last year he warned of a possible “constitutional crisis” if pay raises were not forthcoming.
The House Judiciary Committee voted in December to increase federal judges’ pay. Federal trial judges, who currently earn $165,200, would see their pay increase to $233,500, the Washington Post reports.
Salaries would increase from $175,100 to $247,500 for appeals court judges, and from $203,000 to $286,900 for U.S. Supreme Court justices. A Senate bill would hike salaries even more.
“This salary restoration legislation is vital now that the denial of annual increases over the years has left federal trial judges—the backbone of our system of justice—earning about the same as (and in some cases less than) first-year lawyers at firms in major cities, where many of the judges are located,” Roberts said in the report (PDF).
