john roberts calls on U2 for a benefit concert for federal judges

I read that and almost pissed myself laughing. You get a lifetime position and earn a minimum of $162,000 a year. Poor them. Maybe they should spend some time earning minimum wage and getting laid off because their company wants to move their job to China so some 12 year old kid can do the same job for nickels a day. Once they endure that then they can bitch about just making $162,000 a year.

sponger wrote:

not only that but his join date precedes yours

I have a feeling that my name is more indicative of my actual beliefs than his.

stupidcorporatewhore wrote:

yes,to be fair, my 212,000 figure is the top floor salary for a federal judge.

I'm not saying they should go through law school then make 20 bucks an hour but god forbid they might preform this vital job because it's the right thing to do.

no money in doing the right thing i guess.

Being a federal judge has many additional expenses because of the nature of the job. One might think that these are covered by $162,000, but maybe it's not.

Still, I have no love lost for federal judges. They should think about being less irresponsible in their work and maybe I'd be in favor of increasing their salaries.

His point is the fact that the pay is so much lower than other positions outside of the federal judiciary that these individuals qualify for. And he's right, we're seeing a high turnover with federal judges. We need consistency in these positions to develop consistent interpretations of the constitution. They should most certainly be making a salary comparable to other prestigious law positions outside of government in the private sector.

Edit: And also we need to bear in mind that these are lifetime appointments. Elected officials oftentimes use their moderately well-paid government experience as a springboard to an extremely lucrative private sector position. Federal judges are not in this enviable position; their salary should reward their sacrifice.

Ebizzie wrote:

Edit: And also we need to bear in mind that these are lifetime appointments. Elected officials oftentimes use their moderately well-paid government experience as a springboard to an extremely lucrative private sector position. Federal judges are not in this enviable position; their salary should reward their sacrifice.

These are lifetime appointments because they cannot be removed from the bench (unless impeached) and do not have to face "reelection" every few years, which keeps them "independent".

But they are free to leave office whenever they want. And I'm sure that ex-federal judge looks great in a resume. I'm sure that they'd be very valuable in private law firms because of the connections that they've made. I don't see how serving as a judge is a sacrifice. I think it would be a great job.

stupidcorporatewhore wrote:

yes,to be fair, my 212,000 figure is the top floor salary for a federal judge.

I'm not saying they should go through law school then make 20 bucks an hour but god forbid they might preform this vital job because it's the right thing to do.

no money in doing the right thing i guess.

They have bills to pay...and a lot more stress job. And their job is alot more important than some casheer at walmart

miller8966 wrote:

They have bills to pay...and a lot more stress job. And their job is alot more important than some casheer at walmart

Is it more important than a construction workers, electricians, carpenters and plumbers?

mammasan wrote:

Exactly which is why the starting salary for a Federal judge is $162,000 a year. If you can't live comfortably off of a $162,000 salary than you have problems.

Thats really not alot of money for the amount of stress and work put in to such a high profile job.

qtegirl wrote:

Exactly.

They make 11 times more money than a person who gets paid $7 an hour.

They do alot more work than someone who gets paid 7 dollars an hr.

miller8966 wrote:

Thats really not alot of money for the amount of stress and work put in to such a high profile job.

What about police officers, fire fighters, our soldiers? Federal judges starting salary is about 4x more than the starting salaries for these jobs. Look at the stress levels and responsibilities that those jobs carry and let's not even mention that you are putting your life at risk. A starting salary of $162,000 should be more than sufficient for federal judges.