Vol. 39, Number 11 — November 2007

House Joins Senate with Bill on Judges’ Pay

The Federal Judicial Salary Restoration Act of 2007, H.R. 3753, was introduced in the House on October 4, 2007, by Representative John Conyers (D-MI), chair of the House Judiciary Committee. There are now bills in both the Senate and the House that would increase and thereby restore the salary of federal judges.

The many co-sponsors of the bill draw from both sides of the aisle, with both the Majority Leader, Representative Steny Hoyer (D-MD), and the Minority Leader, Representative John Boehner (R-OH). In addition, as of press time, 20 cosponsors supported the bill: Representatives Howard Berman (D-CA), Spencer Bachus (R-AL), Judy Biggert (R-IL), Chris Cannon (R-UT), Steve Cohen (D-TN), Henry Cuellar (R-TX), Artur Davis (D-AL), Anna G. Eshoo (D-CA), Tom Feeney (R-FL), Jim Gerlach (D-PA), Louie Gohmert (R-TX), Jerry Lewis (D-CA), Daniel E. Lungren (R-CA), Jerry Moran (D-KS), Mike Pence (R-IN), C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-MD), Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D-SD), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) and Melvin Watt (D-NC).

H.R. 3753 would restore years of lost compensation, increasing the pay of U.S. court of appeals judges to $247,000 and to $233,500 for U.S. district judges. The legislation would adjust the pay of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court to $299,800 and the pay of associate justices of the Supreme Court to $286,900. The bill also would repeal Section 140 of P.L. 97-92. Under Section 140, specific congressional approval is required to permit judges to receive a cost-of-living adjustment as provided annually under the Ethics Reform Act of 1989.

Federal judges have been denied six cost-of-living increases since 1993. As a result, a district court judge on the bench since 1993 failed to receive a total of $208,500 in pay. An appellate judge lost even more in pay.