Free Republic

ASSOCIATED PRESS A judge has ordered New York's governor, Senate and Assembly to raise the pay of the state's judges within the next 90 days. State Supreme Court Justice Edward Lehner in Manhattan says the defendants unconstitutionally abused their power by depriving judges of a pay hike for almost 10 years. He says state legislators illegally linked a judicial salary increase to one for themselves. Lehner has ordered the state to raise judicial pay to reflect cost of living increases since 1998. He was ruling on a lawsuit brought by four judges — and acknowledges he would be affected by...

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. 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. In the 1950s, 65 percent of U.S. District Court judges came from the practicing bar and 35 percent came from the public sector. Today the situation is reversed, Roberts said, with 60 percent from the public...