Posted by Orin Kerr:
No Soup for You, Article III Judges:
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2008_12_07-2008_12_13.shtml#1229116142
Over at [1]The BLT, Tony Mauro has an interesting post on the Cost of
Living Adjustment (COLA) for federal judges that would let judicial
salaries adjust for inflation, The COLA increase was originally
inserted into the auto bailout bill, but it was pulled because it
became controversial:
[E]ven before the Senate killed the bailout, the judges' COLA got
into unexpected trouble. Some press reports on the House action
portrayed it as a judicial "pay raise" that had been tucked into
the House bill -- rather than an adjustment that barely keeps them
even with inflation. The news reports, apparently, scared off the
Senate.
�Wrong time. Wrong place,� Sen. Claire McCaskill, (D-Mo.)
exclaimed on the Senate floor Dec. 11. �We have families all over
this nation that are scared today, that aren�t buying Christmas
presents. Federal judges get lifetime appointments and they never
take a dime�s cut in pay. They die with the same salary they have
today.� After that, it was little surprise that senators supporting
the auto bailout began the process of pulling the judicial
provision out of the bill. They did not want to jeopardize any
much-needed votes. But then the whole thing collapsed anyway.
References
1. http://legaltimes.typepad.com/blt/2008/12/no-cola-for-federal-judges.html
_______________________________________________
Volokh mailing list
[email protected]
http://lists.powerblogs.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/volokh
