Roberts backs judge pay raises

WASHINGTON – Taking advantage of what he called a “historically slow news day,” Supreme Court Chief Justice John G. Roberts will release a report today calling for a raise for federal judges.

Roberts said in his second year-end report that the issue of lagging salaries “threatens to undermine” the court system.

In 1969, federal judges earned substantially more than the dean and the senior professors at the Harvard Law School, Roberts said. “Today, federal judges are paid substantially less – about half – what the deans and senior law professors at top schools are paid,” he said.

During the same period, the average U.S. worker’s wage, when adjusted for inflation, has risen by about 18 percent. By contrast, the pay for a federal judge has declined by about 24 percent compared to inflation, creating a gap of 42 percent, he said.

Federal judges, who have lifetime appointments, “do not expect to receive salaries commensurate with what they could easily earn in the private sector,” Robert acknowledged. But judges should not have to accept salaries that “fall further and further behind the cost of living,” he said.

Roberts did not say how much he thinks judges should be paid.

The chief justice, who heads the federal judicial system, faces an uphill fight in persuading Congress to hike the salaries of judges. That’s because in the past 20 years, the pay rates for judges have been tied to those of members of Congress.

In 2006, senators, representatives and federal district judges were paid $165,200. This was $3,100 more than in 2005.

Judges on the U.S. appeals courts were paid $175,100. The eight associate justices of the Supreme Court earned $203,000, while the chief justice made $212,100.