Individuals seek and accept nominations to the bench because they want to serve their country.
But this does not mean they should forgo fair compensation for their critical work. It should be this Congress goal to ensure that judges can afford to serve their country and make certain that the judiciary is not open only to those with the financial means to do it. Fifty-four Federal District Court and Circuit Court judges have left the bench in the 1990s, compared to only three during the entire 1960s. Under Biggert s Federal Judicial Fairness Act, federal judges will receive an annual COLA not subject to the approval of Congress. The size of the COLA would be determined by the Employment Cost Index, but it could not be larger than the one received by federal employees under the General Schedule pay rate.