Lawmakers: boost judges’ pay, clean up DOJ

Giving salary boosts to federal judges, ending partisan acrimony in the judicial confirmation process, and cleaning up the Department of Justice are at the top of the agenda of congressional Judiciary Committee members, according to House Chairman Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., and member Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas.

Conyers and Cornyn, who spoke this morning at DRI’s annual meeting here in Washington, agreed that the low wages offered to federal judges hamper the ability to draw and keep qualified jurists on the bench.

“Notwithstanding life tenure, we should be concerned with the number of judges who are leaving the bench,” Cornyn said, noting that federal judges often watch their clerks leave for law firm jobs with salaries that dwarf their own. And few of those former clerks return to the judiciary, robbing the bench of judges with crucial experience as practicing attorneys.

“Fewer than four out of 10 appointees to the federal bench are lawyers entering for private practice,” Cornyn said, urging bipartisan legislation boosting judicial pay.

Conyers said he has introduced a bill that will boost judges pay, but some lawmakers are wary of ending the current system of linking judicial and legislative pay increases.

“I think what is more troublesome for us on the House side is that many members are not quite comfortable with breaking the link between the compensation of legislators and the compensation of jurists,” Conyers said. “Judges haven’t been receiving so much as cost of living increases. They are lagging far behind.”

(Their thoughts on the politicized nature of the Justice Department and the judicial confirmation process after the jump).

Conyers said he is deeply concerned about the future of the Justice Department as the pending nomination of Michael Mukasey to replace resigned Attorney General Alberto Gonzales gets underway.

“We have a serious problem [with] the direction of the Department of Justice,” Conyers said. “Many have left, morale is low, [and] the attorney general has resigned.”

Conyers said the firings of nine U.S. attorneys demonstrate the politicized nature of the office, and said the committee will focus on how to fix problems that give the department a black eye.

“We are working to rebuild the system of [the] Department of Justice to make sure people believe in it, and make sure no one is being singled out for political or election reasons,” Conyers said. “And I’m proud of the bipartisan spirit [within the committee] on this matter.”

Conyers distinguished the firings of nine U.S. attorneys under Gonzales’ tenure from the firing of all U.S. attorneys at the start of President Bill Clinton’s administration.

“It is traditional that at the beginning of a president’s term, especially if it is a new leader of the different party coming in, that all U.S. attorneys submit their resignation, Conyers said. “The difference with the nine attorneys that were fired [under Gonzales] is that they were appointed by the same administration that fired them. That is what we are concerned about. The question is why were these nine selected?”

“It has a political odor which we think is something that should not be buried,” Conyers said.

Conyers also assured that Mukasey’s confirmation process will be thorough. “Everybody will know everything about him before the process ends,” Conyers said.

Cornyn also spoke of the need to end partisan acrimony in the federal judiciary confirmation process, fueled by the influence of what he called “inside-the-beltway special interest groups.”

“These groups don’t hesitate to turn these nominees into caricatures” by “cherry picking” from the judges’ prior decisions and labeling them “pro-this and anti-that.”