Judge Justice's decision quickly became a campaign issue, with Democrat Al Gore criticizing Bush through highlighting the ruling in paid advertising. We are especially pleased to honor such a dedicated advocate of the underrepresented. We are delighted to be recognizing his achievements this year. Through a jointly issued report, presented in February to Chief Justice William Rehnquist, the ABA and the FBA emphasized that judicial pay has been eroded by inflation and has not been adjusted to reflect the rapid escalation of salaries of comparable positions in the private sector. This has led to higher rates of judges leaving the bench to return to private practice for much higher salaries.
Competitive salaries are imperative in trying to attract and retain qualified judges.
The bill would also eliminate the statutory requirement that Congress must approve COLA raises for judges, as judges would automatically receive the same COLA raises as other federal workers. The ABA Standing Committee on Election Law, in cooperation with the Section of Individual Rights and Responsibilities, the Section of State and Local Government Law, and the Commission on Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Profession, has undertaken a review of issues that arose in the Florida election controversy. The committee will present a proposed election reform policy to the ABA House of Delegates at the 2001 Annual Meeting in August. The program is administered by the Council on Legal and Education Opportunity, an ABA Fund for Justice and Education non-profit project which is also governed by AALS, LSAC, the National Bar Association, the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, and the Society of American Law Teachers. The ABA stresses its own active involvement in increasing diversity in law schools by highlighting its Legal Opportunity Scholarship Fund, which endows twenty annual scholarships for minority students.