I have some cronies who care about the pay of Federal judges and who are dismayed that the Federal judge now gets about the same pay as the first-year associate in a hubba hubba first tier firm. And worse: the Judicial Center has hoiked up some data to show how far judges have fallen relative to ordinary folks, and to other federal employees, and even (gasp!) to law school professors and deans (link).
Re junior associates, the data does indeed raise some eyebrows, but I'm not sure which way it cuts: are judges wretchedly underpaid, or is it the associates who are scandalously overpaid? The issue is a little like tax policy: nobody ever demands that we achieve equity by having their own taxes raised. Aside from thqat--just in general, I suspect there isn't a Federal judge in the nation who works as hard as a first-year associate--or who has as much to be ashamed of.
As to ordinary folks--the fact of a relative slide is, indeed, remarkable, but here, too, it may be useful to offer some perspective. One, $165,200 still looks pretty good to most folks. Top it off with perks and benefits (including a dream retirement), and it's probably worth about twice that. Moreover quite a few judges don't get near the bench until they've had a chance to pad out their private retirement plans. And even ignoring that possibility--recall that $165,200 is still about four times the national average family income. Inability to live on a sum like that (lifetime guaranteed) betrays a curious lack of vision.
Years ago when I was in law practice (and judical salaries were relatively better), my mentor was scandalized when he found out the judge had to close court for the day so he could go home on the last bus. "The bus!" my mentor fulminated. "It's an embarrassment that the judge has to take the bus!" Mrs. Buce was not impressed. "I wonder," she said, "if maybe the judge should be required to take the bus."
Later we learned that he was taking the bus because his car was in the shop. It was a Jaguar. Figures.
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