Do Federal Judges get paid enough??? Some don't think so.

[misternormal]

This should piss everybody off !!!

Oh, the Indignities of a Judge's Paycheck

A job for life, generous bennies, the pick of tee times, and compliments from every lawyer in town can't make up for the reality of "low" pay on the federal bench. Making between $149,132 and $208,100 (on par with the vice president and House speaker) just doesn't cut it anymore for the black-robed class. Listen to Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy. "We are patronized when we meet judges from England, the European Union, or Malaysia, whose salaries double that of ours," he tells a House subcommittee. "They say, 'We're so sorry about your salaries.' You shouldn't put us in that position."

His dramatic complaints reveal that judicial pay has gone from a whine to a serious issue that Chief Justice John Roberts plans to raise with Congress. "The failure of the Congress to address the problem of judicial salary is assuming the proportion of a historic wrong," says Kennedy. Court reps say law school students shun the bench, judicial morale is low, and many are fleeing to wealthy firms. Kennedy says his law clerks win signing bonuses equal to his $199,200 salary when they leave, and the federal bench's top class-action judge quit because he didn't get a cost-of-living adjustment. The resulting higher workload even has older judges off the links and in the court full time. "They don't have to do that," says Kennedy. "They don't have to work at all."

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/politics/whispers/articles/060417/17whisplead.htm

[napi21]

1. Well, I haven't seen anyone having to twist arms to get

nominees to want the job, have you? There always seem to be lots of candidates when there's a vacancy!

[dsc]

5. actually both Clinton and Bush

have had problems recruiting people to the bench. Unless a person has already made a ton of money the amounts paid to federal judges is peanuts. A graduate fresh from an ivy league law school in good years can make more money than a federal judge. That is crazy.

[napi21]

6. Of course that rookie can make the big bucks, but I don't think

you can put a price tag on a public service position. Where would it stop...or start for that matter?

What is a President really worth? Should Clinton have been paid several million but Shrub should get minumum wage?

What about Congressmen? Most of them are attorneys too!

It's well known that private practice law pays a LOT more than being a public defender, but there are many attorneys who choose the PD route because THAT'S what they want to do!

I spent a lot of time working with two of the partners in a very prominent Washington DC law firm who were working on a legal situation for the Co. I worked for at the time. Both billed out at $700/hr! They were very good at what they did, but most of their benefits to our Co. was who they knew, not necessarily what they knew.

I don't think you can compare a Gov't job with private industry ones. The taxpayers can't afford to pay what private industry does, and in Gov't, the good get the same pay right alongside the bad.

[dsc]

8. I am not advocating a 1 for 1 match

but we should do better than what a major law firm pays its first year associates. I would think something around 500k would work.

[951-Riverside]

2. Where do I apply? :D

[Neil Lisst]

3. don't increase the pay or Reagan-Bush appointees will never leave

[Poppyseedman]

4. I'm going to disagree here.

SCOTUS and Federal judges should be well compensated.

$149,132 to $208,100 may seem like a lot of money to an average joe like you or me, but in the legal profession, it's peanuts. It's actually disrespectful.

These people are supposed to be the "BEST" our country has to offer. They should be paid compensatory to these position.

How much pay should they get? I don't know?

[Neil Lisst]

10. THESE PEOPLE are 80% pubs the past 25 years!!

They may be able to make a lot more money, but they are Republican hacks, so don't worry about their wallets.

Lower pay means some retire early to go back to private practice.

[Poppyseedman]

11. I don't know the political affiliations was a know fact for

sitting SCOTUS judges ???

Ask any rethug and they will tell you 60% judges are liberals hacks? Souter being top on their list

[Neil Lisst]

12. they would be wrong

Republican presidents appoint Republican judges, and when they control one or both houses of congress, that means more courts and more judges while they are in power.

Only 3 of the 9 SC justices were appointed by Dems - Stevens, Ginsberg, and Brier. Souter was appointed by Bush I.

[Poppyseedman]

13. and..............Souter votes with the liberals almost all the time.

O'Conner was appointed by Reagan. She was not a solid rethug vote by any means.

You are making my point.

[Neil Lisst]

14. O'Connor voted with the right most of the time.

Freepers think O'Connor voted with liberals, and that's only because she didn't vote with them on about 20% of the votes the neoconmen find important. They're such morons.

[charlie]

7. Kennedy wants his cut

for his swing vote in 2000. He flopped like a fish before landing in Bush's pocket. He was also the idiot who agreed to hear the case in the first place.

[Boojatta]

9. Cost effective solution: don't publish judge salary info

Listen to Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy. "We are patronized when we meet judges from England, the European Union, or Malaysia, whose salaries double that of ours," he tells a House subcommittee. "They say, 'We're so sorry about your salaries.' You shouldn't put us in that position."