By Mark David Blum, Esq.

What a whining crybaby our nation's Chief Judge has become. Arguing that he just cannot make ends meet on $165,000 a year, Chief Justice John Roberts says the pay scale for federal judges is reaching a “constitutional crisis”.

What is reaching a constitutional crisis is the arrogance of the federal judiciary. In so many instances, the doors to the court house are closed. Federal Judges have made the system sluggish and non responsive and even hostile. Litigants spend years waiting for a decision on even the simplest of motions. Parties must wait five months before they can even start their cases. In the end, it appears that some federal judges do less work, spend fewer hours in their offices, and find more excuses to abdicate their responsibilities than ever before.

For millions of Americans and thousands of qualified lawyers, the federal judicial pay scale would indeed be a pay raise. Others would obviously see a salary with all the Federal perks to be a pay cut. Being a federal judge is not a right; it is a civic duty. When someone takes job, it should not be for the remuneration, but for the honor of filling that robe and a place in history.

Finally, Justice Roberts alleges that because of low pay, most new federal judges come from the public sector for the pay raise. In reality, they come from prosecutor's offices. In the bloodlust of the christianists and neocons that overtook our government, they packed the judiciary with former prosecutors. These are the civil servants Roberts is talking about. It has been a long time since Congress installed a Federal Judge solely on the basis of being “the best person for the job.” Politics and cronyism is what the system is all about and it is from that body politic that most new judges are drawn.

My Supreme Court is the last line of defense against a corrupt and evil government. Congress legislates the will of the majority. The Executive implements the laws. But, the Supreme Court is the guardian of the individual and the rights and privileges accorded him in the Constitution. Apparently, in their minds, the judges that currently sit on that hallowed bench see themselves as civil servants. They are not. They are constitutional officers who, if they cannot do the job for the mere pittance of $165,000 a year, should get the hell out of the way for those whose goals and ideals are loftier than a paycheck. “Greed” is not the hallmark of Justice.