Federal Judiciary

Chief Justice: Judges want equal treatment

By Akin Gump Supreme Court Practice Group

Praising the federal courts for doing their work with only a “tiny share of the federal budget,” Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., protested on Wednesday that Congress has awarded its own members and “every other federal employee” a cost-of-living pay raise this year — but left out the judges.

In his year-end report on the federal judiciary, the Chief Justice said Congress’ inaction on repeated pay raises for judges was a “bad situation” made worse by denying the judges the same treatment provided others working for the federal government.  The failure to act, he said, “vividly illustrates why judges’ salaries have declined in real terms over the past twenty years.”

Just as members of Congress face pressing problems, especially during the economic downturn, judges, too, confront “issues of momentous importance” to those involved in court casses and to the broader community, the report declared.  In fact, Roberts added, legal issues that come before the judges are growing ever more complex.  That only emphasizes the need to attract “the finest legal minds” to the bench.

The Chief Justice conceded that “many are tired of hearing it, and Iknow I am tired of saying it,” but he said he had to renew his plea for pay raises for judges to keep pace with inflation.

Much of the annual report was devoted to details of how the federal courts are saving public funds in a time of budgetary squeezes.

Full post as published by SCOTUSBLOG on December 31, 2008 (boomark / email).