AP: Scalia argues for better judicial pay

[Xipe Totec]

"If you become a federal judge in the Southern District of New York (Manhattan), you can't raise a family on what the salary is," Scalia said during a speech to the Northern Virginia Technology Council.

Federal judges earned salaries of $165,200 in 2006. Scalia said lawyers can easily earn significantly more by staying in the private sector.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061213/ap_on_re_us/scalia_speech_1

Evidently, the poverty line in the US is now $165,000 a year, and anyone earning less than that is a loser.

[Waya]

1. Damn prick......

....try minimum wage.....then whine.....parasite

[saigon68]

24. He is a fuck face

[heliarc]

2. What a )*&%#$&(&!)*(#

Wow, this is the thing he chooses to fight for? Right now???

[cassiepriam]

3. Boo hoo. And poor things, they have to work five days a week too.

Can't raise a family making $165K and working 5 days a week.

[AndyA]

4. Fuck you, Scalia!

NO ONE EARNING MINIMUM WAGE IN THE UNITED STATES CAN AFFORD TO RAISE A FAMILY, LET ALONE SUPPORT THEMSELVES.

GET YOUR PRIORITIES STRAIGHT, ASSHOLE!

Sorry for the bold/all caps, but it does express how I feel after reading what Scalia said.

:mad:

[Norquist Nemesis]

5. You can't raise a family on $165,200???

Oh...My...God! If being in the top five percent bracket means you can't raise a family on it, the remaining 95% of us are SEROUSLY FUCKED!

[Xipe Totec]

25. You are absolutely and literally correct

Only 5% of U.S. Households earned $166,000 or more in 2005. Now, mind you, this is household income, not individual income. Which means it takes TWO wage earners in some cases to get this high.

80% of U.S. Households earned $91,705 or less.

http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/income/histinc/h01ar.html

Makes it hard to feel sorry for little Tony. :nopity:

[LizW]

6. Can't raise a family on $165,000

in Manhatten? That must be news to a lot of people.

[Renew Deal]

16. Not if you want to live like a lawyer

That's what I think he's saying.

[closeupready]

18. Why is that anyone's problem but his own?

is what I think people are trying to say. :hi:

[Renew Deal]

20. $165K is a great salary in most of the country.

In Manhattan, not so much. Is a judge required to live in Manhattan? Probably not. Off to the burbs then.

[aquart]

7. And better bribes for relatives.

[w4rma]

8. Scalia should quit then and find a higher paying job. (nt)

[Xipe Totec]

12. That's certainly consistent with Scalia's conservative philosophy

he should practice what he preaches.

[closeupready]

15. LOL! Good one -

:D :hi:

[Atman]

9. Certainly his bribes and payola from BushCo must supplement his income

What a fucking ass. Ask Unka Dick for a lone, Antonin. You prick.


.

[Tight_rope]

17. My sentiments exactly!

[n2doc]

10. Whatever happened to "civic duty"?

The Judges expect US to serve on Jury duty for dollars a day. Frankly, if a person wants to be a judge for the money, I don't want them as my Judge. 165K is more than enough compensation.

[hashibabba]

11. Boo Hoo. Only $165,000? I wish I could live on that kind of money.

I know it would be difficult to raise my family on that, but I'd like to give it a try!

[PrimeRibGuy]

44. Sorry, but I think were missing his point...

Boy, Am I going to get some feedback on this!!!

But here goes, would you want to be appointed or asked to be appointed to a judge position in New York if you could make two to three times more money working in the private sector. With that in mind, do you think we are getting the best people to fill these very important judicial positions if the best people are not interested due to the monetary value in the position?

I cant stand Scalia at all but in this situation I have to agree with him

[Viva_La_Revolution]

46. the 'best' people will not care what the $ amount is

they will be doing civic duty. It has it's own rewards. Anyone who values $ more is not the person I want sitting in that seat.

[PrimeRibGuy]

48. My only thought is this...

If someone goes to law school for however much law school these days or 15 years ago. I just dont think a lot of people willing to take on that liability with school payments and all would be wise enough to go and take a job which would pay a great deal less than they could make in the private sector.

I dont know how many places this affects outside of what dickhead is referecing but that might help in this discussion.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

49. I'm pretty sure there are no newly graduated lawyers up for judgeship

most of them have to be practicing for several years before they are even considered.

[Robbien]

13. He is jealous of the money paid to corrupt politicans and CEO's

Scalia doesn't realize that to them he is just support staff, there to make the rich elite's lives a bit easier.

While doing everything possible to hurt middle America, Scalia doesn't realize he too is part of the middle class being spat upon.

[Judi Lynn]

14. Yaaah, but if you make it to Scalia's pay grade, you can always expect the Vice President

will haul your fat ass around, and treat you to hunting weekends where you can undoubtedly drink your weight in booze, and pass into the sleep of the conscience-free, contemplating how to move through the pending cases he's interested in.

[bluedeminredstate]

23. How right you are.

Actually, both of you are right - Scalia is a lackey, but he's well compensated for it by knowing the right people who he gets to hang with in some nice places and tell him where to put his meager salary to make it grow obscenely, and who employ his children. Of course there's the raw power of sitting there in the SC while he plays God. That's better than Viagra or the hairshirt he loves to sport when he's kicking back.
Plus the lecture circuit pays the bills on his vacation home I'm sure.

[rock]

19. He could quit judging and go into lawerying

Oh wait I forgot -- nobody would hire the sack of shit.

[THUNDER HANDS]

21. well, they can always be court reporters

I just graduated from court reporting school and from what I've heard, I can make $500 - $1000 PER DAY, doing this.

[9119495]

22. Well, if he actually did his job, he'd be worth it...

but what he does can't be called justice so I'm surprised he gets a check at all.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

26. Is he not making enough "on the side"? What a douchebag. n/t

[Solo_in_MD]

27. I think many posters here have missed the key point.

1) Judges are important to civic life. We need to have good judges
2) The vast majority of judges are lawyers. If a good/smart lawyer can make much more in private practice than in the AGs office or as a judge, so won't take it, leaving lesser qualified to sit on the bench. This is a bad thing
3) Alternatively some lawyers make lots of money and then retire to the bench...how favorably disposed are they going to be to working people?

If we paid jurists better based on cost of living etc, we would stand a better chance of getting a more diverse group on the bench, who would be younger and potentially more supportive of working people.

Those who have gone high order because Scalia said it are being short sighted.

[beth9999]

28. Public Service is just that... service

I understand your point, but the fact of the matter is that public servants have always been expected to earn less than they would in private life, from the lowly private in the army who earn bupkus to the President who could probably earn a lot more in private enterprise. Public officials serve the public because they *want to* and have a calling to do so.

I agree that public officials need to receive compensation for their efforts, but to say that we need to compensate them to the level of private enterprise has never been true in our country.

As an aside, the fact that Scalia said it is important to me. I wouldn't believe a Repug if he said that the sun would rise in the east tomorrow.

[Solo_in_MD]

37. Are you aware that Ted Kennedy has also supported it?

http://www.michbar.org/journal/pdf/pdf4article582.pdf
http://www.uscourts.gov/judicialpay.pdf

The fact is that the judiacry has been starved for years. The result is that only the weathly can afford to be judges, espcially in major metroipolitan areas. Given a choice between public service on less an appropriate salary and a better life for their families, many are choosing the latter. That is costing us good judges who have should have more empathy with those who are not the rich elite of the so called ownership society.

This is not Alito's call alone...I assumed most here were aware of that.

[Xipe Totec]

52. Would you say that Scalia is worth the money he gets?

Is this the best we can do for $165K?

[Rex]

29. I stepped in some Scalia yesterday out in the yard.

Took me 30 minutes to scrape it all off with a stick. :(

[AtomicKitten]

30. How about better judicial decisions for better pay?

The five should be docked pay (no, impeached) for their 2000 judicial coup d"etat.

[Rex]

31. Hell, let's make it an electable position.

Bump it up to 11 judges. Get rid of the Lifers who want to destroy the Constitution.

[AtomicKitten]

32. High-five on that proposal.

These Federalists are strict constitutionalists that poo-poo all the amendments expanding freedom and civil rights.

[Rex]

33. They're all still insecure about judicial review empowerment.

We have way to many judges that can't seem to keep politics out of their rulings so why not make it official? Make it political and institutionalize the branch so that we don't have to suffer the Scalias. Those assholes can get voted out like their slimeball friends Bush and Cheney.

Hell, we need a more parliamentary system in Congress. Fuck political kindness. Deal with problems in a public and humiliating way, IMO. Would have stopped all the shenanigans going on in the House.

[Solo_in_MD]

38. Look what happened in CA...Rose Bird was ejected for political reasons

and Justice O'Connor and others have been voicing concerns that justices are selling their verdicts for votes...you want more of that?

[Rex]

39. I want a system that allows us to vote in the 3rd branch of govt.

I didn't say it was a popular view. If they can't keep politics out of the court system...don't make me laugh.

[Solo_in_MD]

40. Indeed it is a lesser of two evils...the CA system used to seem to be a

decent compromise until Justice Bird and two of her colleagues were thrown out by the repuke over capital punishment.

[Rex]

41. Lesser of two evils, so true.

I just wish we could shore up our reputation on human rights. I get sick of hearing people compare us to China.

[Raskolnik]

51. I think that is a terrible idea.

There are very good reasons to keep the judiciary as far away from elections as possible.

[Joanne98]

34. Fat Tony wants mo money....

[Name removed]

35. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[brentspeak]

42. You should be sorry.

What was your reasoning for using that term?

[Book Lover]

36. Try me, Signor Scalia

I have a hunch I could manage. I know for a fact your parents raised you in Jersey on much less.

[brentspeak]

43. Federal judges "only" make $165,000 a year. This is an American tragedy.

Holy cow, is Scalia a jerk-and-a-half.

[Morgana LaFey]

45. Well then let them stay in private practice. I bet $165K would be a

significant raise for the type of Federal judges I'd like to see: public defenders and such.

[tinfoilinfor2005]

47. He's a pig. n/t

[denverbill]

50. I guess we'll need to hire some Mexican judges to do the jobs Americans don't want. n/t

[lovuian]

53. Ask Cheney

he can give you money

[Fovea]

54. minimum wage

and that's too good for Scalia.