District Judges’ Salary Would Jump to $130,000 from $78,700 : Rehnquist Backs Big Judicial Pay Hike

Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, in his first year-end statement on the federal judiciary, urged a big salary increase for federal judges at all levels.

Rehnquist was echoing a recommendation made in December by the special Commission on Executive, Legislative and Judicial Salaries, which called for sharp increases for all top government officials, including a raise to $130,000 a year for federal district judges from their 1986 salary of $78,700.

Lawyers’ Pay Cited

This may seem excessive to the average American, who earns much less, Rehnquist said, but the “relevant comparison” for judges is the salary earned by experienced lawyers. In 1985, he noted, the median income for a 50-year-old partner in a law firm was $164,000.

“We will always have men and women available to fill vacancies in the federal judiciary,” Rehnquist said, “but, if salaries are not made comparable to the average earned in private practice, fewer of these candidates will possess the first-rate talent which has always been a hallmark of the federal bench.”

On Monday, President Reagan, in proposing his budget to Congress, will present his own recommendations on salaries for high-ranking government officials, members of Congress and federal judges. Unless reversed by a vote of Congress, the recommendations will become law within 30 days. What Reagan will recommend has not been announced.

Burger Backs Pay Hike

Retired Chief Justice Warren E. Burger, in a Dec. 15 letter to Reagan, urged the President to endorse the special commission’s recommended increase for the federal judiciary.

“In just my relatively brief tenure (17 years) as chief justice,” Burger said, “there have been more judges of the federal bench resign and return to practice than in all of the period f1919905056economic reasons,” he added.

The special commission reviews the adequacy of federal executive salaries every four years.

In 1986, Congress approved a 3% pay raise for all federal employees, including judges, which goes into effect today. The salaries of the 563 federal district judges is being increased to $81,000. The salaries of the 168 judges on federal circuit courts of appeal rise to $85,700, from $83,200 in 1986.

The special commission recommended salaries of $135,000 for appeals court judges, equal to the amount suggested for members of Congress, who will earn $77,400 a year beginning today.

The chief justice earned $108,000 in 1986, and the commission recommended a salary of $175,000. The eight associate Supreme Court justices, who earned $104,000 in 1986, would receive $165,000 if the commission’s recommendation is approved.

New Court Urged

Rehnquist, backing another Burger proposal, urged Congress to create a “national court of appeals or an intercircuit tribunal” to ease the caseload of the Supreme Court. For decades, the justices have heard arguments and issued written opinions on about 150 cases a year, but the number appealed to the high court in recent years has exceeded 5,000.

In 1986, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved a bill to create a special tribunal to decide conflicts among the 13 federal appeals courts, but the legislation died before reaching the Senate floor.