The best example of the unfairness is Bob Rose, who has been on the Nevada Supreme Court since 1989. When Rose was chief justice from 1999 to this January, he shepherded the judiciary through a highly productive time, streamlining processes and making new rules to hold the court system more accountable. Although the Sun's March 21 editorial states that Justice Rose knew of the salary situation when he took the job, that is just not true. For 40 years all justices were paid the same until the law was changed in 1995. Actually, there is.
Judges are different.
They only decide the cases that come before them. They have no control over their salaries, which are set by the Legislature and the governor. While it makes sense to limit raises for legislative and executive officials, such a limitation for judges results only in unfairness. If the Legislature provides a pay raise this session, five of the seven justices on the court will spend part of their terms working for disproportionately lower salaries. Two justices elected in 2002 will get a raise the next January, but the others will have to wait.