Federal Judges Need Higher Pay: Roberts

Chief Justice John Roberts called for a pay raise for federal judges today in his year-end report on the judicial system, the Washington Post reports. This marks the second straight year that Roberts advocated for higher judicial salaries, and he praised the tentative plan Congress has put forth, calling it "vital legislation."

Roberts opposes the existing link between judicial and congressional pay, which he says has caused an erosion of judges' salaries to the point where they compare, sometimes unfavorably, to those of “first-year lawyers at firms in major cities.” Roberts used the remainder of his report to call for greater cooperation between the three branches of government.