Bush Likely to Propose Pay Increase for Judges : Fears Exodus From U.S. Judiciary but Congress, Deprived Recently of Big Salary Hike, May Balk

Although no final decision has been made by President Bush, a consensus is emerging in the White House for seeking congressional approval of a 25% pay raise for federal judges, senior officials said Wednesday.

The President and his aides appear to be moving gingerly on the sensitive subject in light of the huge public backlash against a recent broader pay hike measure and are not ready to propose raises, the officials said. But some action is growing more likely.

Pay Now Is $89,500

A 25% increase for jurists would amount to $22,375 for district judges, raising their annual salaries to $111,875 from $89,500. The hike would be offered in an effort to counter a feared exodus of judges attracted by six-figure salaries in the private sector.

Even a proposal to increase the pay of judges--without touching the salaries of members of Congress and top government officials--could threaten to rekindle the angry debate over compensation that embroiled Congress in January and February.

And Sen. Majority Leader George J. Mitchell (D-Me.), a former federal judge, predicted that any proposal by Bush to raise the salaries of judges without giving a similar increase to members of Congress would probably be rejected.

On Feb. 7, after the House and Senate voted to forgo a proposed 50% pay increase, Bush called attention to the particular need to increase the pay of judges. According to a senior aide, when Bush signed the legislation that rejected the broader pay increase, the President added to the written statement announcing his decision an expression of “my special concern about the level of compensation for members of our federal judiciary.”

Said one Administration official, “Given the political situation, everyone feels it’s the wisest course of action” to limit the proposal to the pay of judges.

May Decide Next Week

He and others said that Bush is not likely to make a final decision on the judicial pay increase, which would require congressional approval, until next week.

“You’ll find the potential for agreement between the legislative and executive branches is greatest there,” rather than on salary hikes for legislative or executive branch officials, one official said.

However, another official indicated that warning flags are being raised by members of Congress, giving him some cause for concern about whether a scaled-down pay raise limited to judges could be approved.

Mitchell said most members of Congress viewed linking their pay and that of federal judges as the only leverage they have for obtaining a pay raise themselves.

“There appears to be a widespread feeling that de-linking salaries would make it more difficult for members of Congress ever to get increases in pay,” Mitchell said.

Resignations Predicted

At the heart of the concern over raising judicial salaries, regardless of the pay given to executive branch officials and members of Congress, is the possibility that the salary level is leading to an increase in resignations from the federal judiciary.

The American Bar Assn. has estimated that one-fourth of the nation’s more than 1,000 federal judges may be planning to leave their posts because of dissatisfaction with their salaries.

“Failure to reverse the trend of resignations could cause the federal judiciary to be viewed as merely a steppingstone to higher-paying jobs,” U.S. District Judge Robert H. Hall, president of the Federal Judges Assn., warned.