Judges Need Raise, Rehnquist Says

Declaring the morale and quality of the federal judiciary is at stake, Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist is calling on Congress to give judges a cost-of-living raise. Federal judges, who now make $133,600 a year, “need and have earned” more money, especially since many could be making heftier salaries as top-tier private lawyers, Rehnquist said in his year-end message on the federal courts. Rehnquist also criticized Congress for failing to create new judgeships in 1996 to handle a rising federal court caseload. But he praised lawmakers for setting new limits on the ability of state inmates to challenge their convictions in federal court.