Low pay threatens judiciary, Roberts warns
WASHINGTON (AP) — Pay for federal judges is so inadequate that it threatens to undermine the judiciary’s independence, Chief Justice John Roberts says in a year-end report critical of Congress. Roberts said the judiciary will not properly serve its constitutional role if it is restricted to people so wealthy that they can afford to be indifferent to the level of judicial compensation, or to people for whom the judicial salary represents a pay increase. Issuing an eight-page message devoted exclusively to salaries, Roberts says the 678 full-time U.S. District Court judges, the backbone of the federal judiciary, are paid about half that of deans and senior law professors at top schools….Federal district court judges are paid $165,200 annually; appeals court judges make $175,100; associate justices of the Supreme Court earn $203,000; the chief justice gets $212,100.
I don’t necessarily disagree with Chief Justice Himmler’s Roberts’ argument, but you’ll have to pardon my insensitivity here. I’m having a difficult time working up much in the way of sympathy for people who make significantly more money than I do and then somehow can’t make ends meet.
If the biggest problem you have is that you can’t make ends meet on $175k-$200k, and that you can’t pay the private school tuitions AND make the payment on your BMW 7-series AND the mortgage on the house in the Hamptons…well, it really DOES suck to be poor, doesn’t it??
I should be so poor….