Justices Back Pay Raise, Oppose Cameras

Justices Back Pay Raise, Oppose Cameras, Wash. Post, March 13, 2008:

Two Supreme Court justices pressed lawmakers Thursday to raise the pay of federal judges and refrain from requiring the court to televise its sessions.

Justices Anthony Kennedy and Clarence Thomas went to Capitol Hill to discuss the court's budget request for next year, a largely formal exercise made interesting by the rare give-and-take between justices and members of Congress.

Bills are pending in the House and Senate that would give judges pay hikes of 30 percent or more.

Thomas, noting that federal trial judges earn no more than first-year lawyers at top private firms, said, "I don't think it makes much sense for people with that level of responsibility to be paid at the level of first-year associates."

Is it that judges are underpaid or that Wall Street (and other big firm) associates are overpaid?

See also Dahlia Lithwick, No Justice in These Pay Scales, Wash. Post, March 11, 2007 (discussing large signing bonuses some firms pay to Supreme Court clerks).