Taking Off the Gloves
(Based on “Scholars Weigh Court Influence Over School Practices, Climate”, Mark Walsh, Education Week, 10/22/08)
From 2000 to 2008 an average of 374 suits were filed in federal court dockets each year under IDEA. Samuel R. Bagenstos, law professor at Washington University in St. Louis, researched that data, finding fewer lawsuits than widely perceived. No Child Left Behind, NCLB, incorporated as part of IDEA, has had far fewer suits because it has no expressed right for anyone to sue to enforce individual rights. If a private right of action in the reauthorized NCLB is established, a flood of new lawsuits is likely.
U.S. Supreme Court Judge Salaries
(From “On the Subject of Judicial Salaries, a Sharp Difference of Opinion”, Adam Liptak, The New York Times, 1/20/09)
Current salaries of federal court judges are:
District Court Judges- $169,300
Appeals Court Judges- $179,500
Supreme Court Justices- $208,100
Chief Justice- $217,400
Chief Justice John Roberts says that federal judges are underpaid to a level of “constitutional crisis”. No research, however, supports that position, judges angry that anyone would question their worth or ask whether or not they were overpaid. They point out that their salaries are much smaller than what partners in law firms make and that they alone, among federal employees, receive no cost of living adjustment. Roberts defended his position, pointing out that 38 judges left the federal bench from 2000-2005, some saying they needed to make more money. However, Roberts lumped retirements and resignations together, only 12 judges resigning out of a total of 1,200. No data connects salary with the quantity or quality of the judges’ work.