Opinion ID: 2077983
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Protection of Constitutional Adjudicatory Officials

Text: With respect to plaintiffs' more sweeping assertion that, as adjudicatory government officials, their compensation could not be diminished during their continuance in office, such a position enjoys no support from the Rhode Island Constitution. Indeed, only the justices of this Court enjoy such constitutional protection. R.I. Const., art. 10, sec. 6 (The judges of the supreme court shall receive a compensation for their services, which shall not be diminished during their continuance in office.). The judges of inferior courts, however, as well as other government officials such as plaintiffs who may perform adjudicatory functions, do not enjoy such constitutional protection against diminishment of their compensation during their continuance in office. See Gorham v. Robinson, 57 R.I. 1, 37, 186 A. 832, 850 (1936). Thus, the state's prospective suspension of the members' statutory compensation from 1993 forward did not violate plaintiffs' rights because plaintiffs were free to resign their offices if they did not wish to serve without compensation.