A Solution to the Federal Judicial Pay Crisis: Marry Into Money
As we previously mentioned, and as Lawrence Hurley of the Daily Journal reports here, Congress is considering a proposal that would raise federal judges’ salaries by a significant margin. Here’s what the new scale would look like (with current salaries indicated parenthetically):
District Court Judges: $247,800 (up from $165,200)
Court of Appeals Judges: $262,700 ($175,100)
Associate Justices of the Supreme Court: $304,500 ($203,000)
Chief Justice of the United States: $318,200 ($212,100)
This proposal would cost millions in taxpayer dollars. So we have a better solution to the problem of federal judicial pay, which Chief Justice John Roberts has dubbed a “constitutional crisis.”
Here’s our brilliant idea: Require all federal judges to marry rich!
Don’t you just love couples in which one spouse is a judge, with all the power and prestige of judicial office, and the other spouse is rolling in dough? Off the top of our head, we can name a number of federal judges who have married well — or at least wealthy. (Like Judge Kimba Wood, above right, with her well-heeled hubby, Frank Richardson.)
We list some judges who have married into money, and we invite additional examples from you, after the jump.
Congress Mulls Salary Raise for the Judiciary [Daily Journal via How Appealing Extra]
Earlier: Skaddenfreude: Chief Justice to $318,200?
FEDERAL JUDGES WITH FILTHY RICH SPOUSES
Ruth Bader Ginsburg (Supreme Court): Her husband, Martin Ginsburg, is a top tax lawyer and former partner at Fried Frank (where he’s now of counsel). The assets of the Ginsburgs subject to the financial disclosure rules — which, it should be noted, don’t include all of their assets — could be worth as much as $28 million.
Stephen G. Breyer (Supreme Court): From Oyez:
[I]n 1967, Breyer met his future wife, Joanna Hare, the daughter of England’s Lord John Blakenham…. Breyer married Joanna in England in an Anglican ceremony, carefully edited to remove references to Christ. His marriage greatly increased his personal wealth…
The Breyers’ disclosable assets could be worth as much as $15.4 million.
Kim McLane Wardlaw (9th Cir.): Her husband, Bill Wardlaw, is a former O’Melveny & Myers partner. But he has earned his fortune in the world of investment management. Back in 1998, the Wardlaws had disclosable assets of $12 million (with no liabilities). Almost a decade later, that number is surely higher.
Denny Chin (S.D.N.Y.): His wife, Kathy Hirata Chin, is a partner at Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft (2006 PPP: $2.375 million).
Susan J. Dlott (S.D. Ohio): Her husband, Stan Chesley, is a hugely successful plaintiffs’ attorney. Check out their $12 million, 27,000 square foot mansion, by clicking here.
Loretta A. Preska (S.D.N.Y.): Her husband, Thomas J. Kavaler, is a partner at Cahill Gordon (2006 PPP: $2.575 million). He sits on the firm’s Executive Committee.
Kimba M. Wood (S.D.N.Y.): Her husband, financier Frank Richardson, had a net worth of $175 million as of several years ago. Who knows what it might be today?
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Comments
Roberts himself seems to have done pretty well in this department.
i wonder what Ed Rendell (Gov. of PA, married to 3rd Cir's Midge Rendell) is worth?
Most federal judges I know aren't exactly lookers. I wouldn't call the federal bench a happy hunting ground for trophy wives (and husbands).
"[I]n 1967, Breyer met his future wife, Joanna Hare, the daughter of England's Lord John Blakenham.... Breyer married Joanna in England in an Anglican ceremony, carefully edited to remove references to Christ. His marriage greatly increased his personal wealth..."
This might explain a fair amount of his jurisprudence.
Agree w/4:35. Most of the judges on this list are of above-average attractiveness. But what about the not-so-hot ones?
If you make that much, why not pay taxes on the household help?
Wait--Stephen Breyer and Ruth Bader Ginsberg are "of above-average attractiveness"? Where do you live, 4:43?
Judge Maryanne Trump Barry (3d Cir.)
She was rich before she married (her husband is now deceased), but Judge Barry -- sister of Donald Trump -- is worth millions (might be nine figures). Their father, Fred Trump, was a real estate mogul in his own right.
Have you seen pics of RBG before she joined the SCOTUS? She was kind of cute back in the day.
What did A3G have to say about the attractiveness quotients of these exalted members of the judiciary?
4:43 must live here in DC
4:50 - is that you Dano???
John Roberts makes an awfully pretty Drama Queen.
John Roberts makes an awfully pretty Satan.
Anyone have tips for marrying rich? That's my backup plan for when I don't make partner....
Federal district court judges definitely deserve to make more money than incoming first year BIGLAW associates.
And no, this isn't a kiss-up to my boss, and yes, I am looking forward to my BIGLAW salary (and paying down that T10 student loans!).
Damn - now we have to hear L2L whine about marrying a Tier 2 wife.
Judge Colleen McMahon of the Southern District of New York is married to Frank V. Sica, formerly a managing director at Morgan Stanley and Soros Fund Management.
6:55, public interest attorneys deserve to make more money than incoming first year BIGLAW associates. We gonna have the federal government subsidize a raise for them, too? Or we gonna acknowledge that having a more desirable job, e.g., federal judge or public interest lawyer, is itself additional compensation? These jobs are already highly desirable to highly qualified people. Throwing more money at it isn't going to enhance the quality of anything, it's just going to eat into my paycheck, and I work my fucking ASS off for that goddamn paycheck (or really, about half of it, after the government gets its grubby hands on it). I will gladly become a federal judge and take the pay cut. GLADLY. I'm a top 25% T5 graduate, and there is no shortage of people like me who would similarly become federal judges at the current payscale, and would do so with a great big old smile on their faces.
Susan Dlott is a judge because she had a rich husband who gives money to the Clintons, not as a wealth strategy once she became a judge.
7:56, to get a wife out of Loyola you have to be top 10%, top 15% at least. The best L2L can hope for is a 'domestic partnership?'
Civil union - maybe. Perhaps he could be kept in a cage and told to rub lotion on itself......
All the NY judges are Fordham grads - McMahon included. Discuss . . .
8:02--
Bully for you, but there are better candidates--Biglaw partners at the peaks of their careers--who won't. I personally know one person who turned down a judgeship so he could put his kids through college. (He later took it once he was ready to retire--but the bench would have better off if it'd gotten him over a decade sooner.)
It's frankly embarrassing that judicial salaries don't even scale for inflation. They'll always be a paycut over what Biglaw partners make, and that's appropriate. They shouldn't be quite so comparatively small and getting ever-smaller.
That 100k pay hike makes Chief Justice of the Supreme Court a much more attractive proposition. I'll put the lateral app in this afternoon with my headhunter.
Judge Christina Snyder, C.D. Cal., is married to Marc Seltzer, partner and Los Angeles office head at Susman Godfrey. They were married long before she reached the bench.
8:02,
I agree with 7:53am. I also have a few law professors who have argued and won several cases before the Supreme Court who declined to accept federal appointments because they had children in college and couldn't afford the relatively low salary of a judge (as compared to a partner or senior associate in a big firm).
"couldn't afford"? i'll accept that they didn't want to take the pay cut, but it is certainly possible to put several children through college while earning $165-175K (an income that would, btw, put them in the top 5% of income by household even with a nonworking spouse)
Actually, "couldn't afford" is correct. If you're pulling $170K, that comes to just a little over $100K after federal and state tax and retirement savings. Take out another $30-40K a year for tuition for your kids' college and your talking $60K or $5K a month. In DC, your mortgage is going to be $3-4K on the low end in any decent area. Add the car and bills and you're in the red.
Hon. Stuart M. Bernstein, chief judge of SDNY Bankruptcy, is married to a partner at Weil (don't know her name)
If you turn down a federal judgeship in order to put your kids through college, your priorities are seriously out of whack. The kids can get loans.
There's a very easy solution to what is considered a "problem" regarding pay for federal judges. If the excellent pay scale already in place isn't considered sufficient, from the lowest court to Justice John Roberts on the Supreme Court, don't mary for money, that would make them whores to justice. Just don't seek judicial appointment.
Gilbert Cantlin