Senior U.S. District Judge James T. Giles is leaving the bench for a law firm, and he is citing "financial reasons" as the reason. He told reporters that he does not see Congress giving federal judges a "meaningful raise" in the near future. So, he's going back to the job at Pepper Hamilton that he left in 1979.
According to Giles, if Congress does not approve higher salaries for judges, more senior judges are going to be leaving. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts made some efforts in the past to increase salaries for federal judges, but Congress has yet to act. Roberts argued that average salary has risen by 17.8%, but federal court judges' salaries have dropped by 23.9%. Some call it a constitutional crisis.
Source: WSJ Law Blog
