Clarence Thomas was struggling with debt and unhappy with the salary for a Supreme Court justice. During a plane ride in January 2000, he vented to a Republican House member about resignations being possible without a pay raise. His financial issues were detailed in a recent ProPublica report, which might have encouraged contributions from wealthy supporters like Harlan Crow.
Even though Thomas received luxury travel and other benefits from conservative donors, his complaints about his compensation do not justify this behavior. However, Thomas does have a point. Thomas pushed for the ban on justices accepting honoraria for speeches to be lifted, saying the job is not worth doing for the pay.
Despite my annoyance with the court’s recent shift to the right, the issue isn’t about pay for performance or supply and demand. Federal judges hold a prestigious position and are not in danger of lacking applicants. Currently, a chief justice earns $298,500, while associate justices receive $285,400. Federal appeals court judges make $246,600, and trial court judges $232,600.
However, despite these amounts being higher than the median wage for a full-time worker in the US, they don’t align with the salaries in the private sector. Supreme Court clerks can earn significant bonuses and salaries when joining big law firms, making the judicial salaries seem minimal in comparison. Additionally, judicial salaries haven’t kept up with inflation, resulting in a significant loss of purchasing power since 1969.
Thomas’s behavior was unacceptable, but he does deserve fair compensation, as do his colleagues.