30% Raise for Federal Judges Urged : Rehnquist Warns of ‘Serious Threat to Future of Judiciary’

Supreme Court Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist made an extraordinary appeal today for a 30% pay hike for federal judges in order to avert a “serious threat to the future of the judiciary.”

Rehnquist, holding his first news conference as chief justice to make the plea, said the Judicial Conference of the United States, which he heads, made a unanimous recommendation at its semiannual meeting Tuesday to seek the raise.

“This is the single greatest problem facing the judicial branch today,” Rehnquist said. “Failure to adequately address this issue would pose the most serious threat to the future of the judiciary and its continued operations that I have observed.”

He said the Judicial Conference “has decided to actively seek legislation to increase the pay of judicial officers. The resolution calls for a 30% increase in judicial salaries coupled with provisions that will assure that judicial officers receive periodic cost-of-living adjustments.”

A recent proposal to boost top federal salaries, including those of federal judges, by 50% went down to defeat in Congress after an acrimonious public debate showing that large segments of the public think members of Congress and others in the federal government already make enough money.

Rehnquist, who makes $115,000 as chief justice, said judicial salaries, now $89,500 for a district judge, $95,000 for an appeals court judge and $110,000 for a member of the Supreme Court, have not kept up with inflation and have led to a situation in which law clerks for federal judges make more money than the judge when they go into private practice.

However, under questioning, Rehnquist could not point to a specific instance of quality suffering, and statistics show that last year only three federal judges retired or left the bench.

He was also asked whether the public would agree that $90,000 a year is not enough money and whether judges should be in it for the money.

“I agree completely that judges ought not be in it for the money and I know of no judge in the federal system that is in it for the money. They’d have to be out of their minds,” he said.