Judicial Salary: Current Issues and Options for Congress Page: 2 of 45
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Judicial Salary: Current Issues and
Options for Congress
Summary
Several federal judges, including the Chief Justice of the United States, have
expressed concern over the level of judicial salary. Chief Justice Roberts has called
the current levels of judicial salary a "constitutional crisis" that threatens the
independence of the federal courts. The most common arguments for raising judicial
salary claim that low judicial salaries (1) limit the ability of the federal judiciary to
draw on a diverse pool of candidates for positions on the federal bench; (2) force
federal judges concerned about their financial futures to resign from the bench before
they become eligible for retirement; and (3) drive other federal judges, upon
becoming eligible for retirement, to retire completely (to earn extra income outside
the judiciary), rather than remain to assist the courts as judges on "senior status."
Opponents of raising judicial salary generally question whether variations in judicial
salary affect recruitment and retention of federal judges.
Examination of the available evidence on the effect of judicial salary on judicial
recruitment and retention suggests (1) trends away from appointing judges directly
from private practice and toward appointing federal judges who are already in the
judiciary (as state judges or federal bankruptcy or magistrate judges) date to before
the most recent decline in judicial salaries, (2) federal judges are not resigning from
the federal bench at rates much higher than historical averages, and (3) the percentage
of federal judges who chose retirement in lieu of senior status has also not risen
markedly in the last several years. From an examination of data on judicial
departures, we are unable to identify a conclusive relationship between judicial salary
and federal judges' decisions to resign or retire.
Should Congress wish to address the issue of judicial salary, it has several
options. In addition to increasing the pay of federal judges on a one-time basis by a
specific amount or percentage, Congress might consider "de-linking" congressional
and judicial salaries, providing that judges receive salaries based on their cost of
living, revising retirement benefits, adjusting survivor benefits for the spouses and
dependents of federal judges, altering outside income limits, convening the Citizens'
Commission on Public Service and Compensation, or enacting automatic adjustments
for judicial salary.
Four bills concerning judicial salary have been introduced in the 110th Congress:
S. 197 would adjust the salaries of federal judges upward by 1.7%; S. 1638 would
increase the salaries of federal judges by 46.4%; S. 2353 would increase the salaries
of federal judges by 16.5%; and H.R. 3753, as reported by the House Judiciary
Committee, would increase the salaries of most federal judges by 28.7%, permit cost-
of-living adjustments to judicial salaries to go into effect unless Congress passed
legislation stopping them from doing so, and change the eligibility for federal judges
to retire, as well as changing how the annuity they receive upon retirement is
calculated.This report will be updated as events warrant.
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Scott, Kevin M. Judicial Salary: Current Issues and Options for Congress, report, January 10, 2008; Washington D.C.. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc807241/m1/2/: accessed March 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.