The judicial compensation system established by the Constitution has been seriously undermined by inflation and legislative inaction.

The real pay of federal judges has declined dramatically in the past several decades.

• Between 1969 and 2002 real pay for federal judges declined approximately 23.5 percent.
• During the same time, the real pay of the average American worker increased by 17.5 percent. Chart 1
• Since 1993, when Congress last comprehensively revised federal salaries, real judicial pay has declined about ten percent while the pay of virtually all other American workers increased. Chart 2

• In 1969, federal district court judge salaries were about 20 percent higher than the salaries of top law school deans and about 30 percent higher than senior law professors at those schools. Chart 3
• Today, top law school deans make approximately $300,000, and senior law professors at those schools make around $210,000, significantly more than the $154,700 salary of a federal district judge. Chart 4

Salaries of top executives in large non-profit organizations are now significantly higher than those of federal judges.

• Average non-profit CEO salaries are approximately 20 percent higher than that of a Supreme Court Justice and approximately 35 percent higher than a district judge’s salary.

In January 2003, the National Commission on the Public Service (the Volcker Commission) declared that “Judicial salaries are the most egregious example of the failure of federal compensation policies.”

• The Volcker Commission found “that the lag in judicial salaries has gone on too long, and the potential for the diminished quality in American jurisprudence is now too large.”
• The Volcker Commission recommended that Congress’s “first priority . . . should be an immediate and substantial increase in judicial salaries.”

President Bush supports legislation that would increase federal judicial salaries by 16.5 percent.

• A 16.5 percent increase will yield an average of approximately $25,000 per judge across all levels of judicial offices.
• The President joined with Chief Justice William Rehnquist in calling upon Congress to pass a 16.5 percent increase in judicial salaries.
• S. 1023 and H.R. 2118 would provide for a 16.5 percent increase in judicial salaries. Similar legislation is also expected to be introduced as part of a broader bill.

The Judicial Conference supports increases in compensation for senior officials in all three branches of government.

• The Volcker Commission found that salaries in the executive and legislative branches had suffered the same general decay as judicial salaries in recent decades, resulting in a similar crisis.
• The Volcker Commission declared that “Congress should grant an immediate and significant increase in judicial, executive, and legislative salaries to ensure a reasonable relationship to other professional opportunities.”

The federal judiciary is experiencing increasing difficulties in retaining judges.

• Since 1990, 75 Article III judges have left the bench through resignation or retirement.
• To put that in perspective, between 1958 and 1969, only three Article III judges resigned from office. The number of resignations has been steadily increasing since then, and appears to have accelerated dramatically in recent years. Chart 5
• Many of the judges who have resigned or retired in recent years have noted that financial considerations are a big factor in their decision to leave the bench.
• It is no wonder that underpaid judges are leaving when law clerks who join major law firms as first-year associates can earn more in their first year than any federal judge earns.

Low federal judicial salaries threaten the independence of the Third Branch.

• Chief Justice Rehnquist has stated that “Inadequate compensation seriously compromises the judicial independence fostered by life tenure. The prospect that low salaries might force judges to return to the private sector rather than stay on the bench risks affecting judicial performance.”