Nation : Rehnquist Urges Judges Pay Hike

WASHINGTON — Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist urged Congress today to give the nation’s federal judges an immediate 30% pay raise.

Calling inadequate salaries “the most serious threat to the future of the judiciary,” Rehnquist sought support for legislation providing the raise and regular cost-of-living adjustments.

“This is not, in my view, fairly termed a pay raise,” Rehnquist said in a statement to the House Post Office and Civil Service Committee. “This is instead a partial recapture of the tremendous decline in purchasing power that has affected judicial salaries over the last 20 years.”

He said he recognizes that there was “widespread public opposition” to a defeated proposal for a much larger 51% pay raise for senior government officials, including members of Congress and federal judges.