L. Ralph Mecham 2 February 17, 1989 That afternoon he slipped into a coma he died. and the next morning Judge James Hunter was still actively working with the court up until the time he died. On Thursday, February 9th, he called me from the hospital and said, "I am on my way out." He then discussed whether or not we could manage to finish up and get filed two opinions which he had drafted and circulated to the panel. He died the next morning before we could get them filed. His handiwork was adopted, in both cases, and filed as per curiam opinions. The press treatment of the issue of senior judge compensation was grossly unfair. Its likely consequence will be to discourage the kind of dedication that we have enjoyed from our senior judges. On the overall pay raise situation I cannot recall any time in nineteen years when the morale of the Article III judges was lower. Sincerely, John John J. Gibbons JJG/nl I am more than glad to respond to your letter asking about the importance of the work of the Senior Circuit and District Court Judges in the Fourth Circuit. an As far as the Circuit Court is concerned, it is not overstatement to say that we would be unable to function were it not for the regular and valuable services of Judge Haynsworth and Judge Butzner. Judge Haynsworth usually sits every other time, and Judge Butzner sits except when he is absent from the country. Since Judge Winter's illness, they have volunteered to fill in more often and, I am sure, will continue to do SO as long as we remain in this special "crisis". Since I am a new kid on the block, I am not quite as knowledgeable about the Senior District Judges. I do know that we draw upon them regularly to fill out panels on the Circuit level. Without them, we would be faced with the choice of seeking to borrow judges from other Circuits or of having fewer panels. I cannot say enough about the willingness of these gentlemen to sit with us, at times on rather short notice. They too are essential to our successful operation. I also know that a number of the Senior District Judges, especially Judges Hoffman and Merhige, go outside the Circuit to help combat existing backlogs at the trial level. I have recently signed designations making this possible. Page 2 I thought that the unfavorable publicity given to our Senior Judges in connection with the controversy surrounding the pay raise was both unfair and unwarranted. I am glad that you are going to have an opportunity to set the record straight on this matter. If I can give you further comments, please let me know. UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT ALBERT J. ENGEL CHIEF JUDGE GERALDR. FORD PEDERAL BUILDING BRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN 48808 April 17, 1989 Honorable Frank M. Coffin for the First Circuit P. O. Box 311 Dear Judge Coffin: Because of the time constraints under which I knew you were operating I quickly sent you an unedited letter outlining my views on the current effort to increase judicial salaries. I have now had a chance to edit and revise that letter and would appreciate it if you would substitute this letter for the one which I sent you by facsimile submission on Friday. I respond at once to your letter of April 11 because I feel that in testifying before Congressman Kastenmeier, you are performing a vital function both in working toward a pay increase for our Article III judges, and, in protecting the senior judge system. This spring, I have been quite astonished to learn how little the members of Congress know about the history of the 1919 act which created senior judges. Apparently the idea has developed that many of our senior judges are getting a free ride upon retirement, which should be curbed in some way in exchange for increasing the pay of active judges. This is a totally incorrect impression and shows a serious lack of understanding of the senior judge system. Undoubtedly members of Congressmen Kastenmeier's committee will themselves be more knowledgeable, but I discovered that the staffs and the administrative assistants in our Michigan senators' office and that my own Congressman, whom I consider generally a very responsible individual, were simply not familiar with the history behind the development of the senior judge system. It has become my considered judgment that this question about senior judges is perhaps the most serious problem we have faced in some time. I believe we are facing it primarily because of a lack of information and an inherent distrust (particularly in the House of Representatives) of federal judges, whose loyalties historically have been identified with those of the Senate. As you may know, my father was a member of Congress for many years and on the Appropriations Committee; hence I am very sensitive to the important role of the House, but this is not a matter of wide recognition within the third branch. 2 If I may intrude a little further on your time, I observe that in addition to a very strong need to educate the Congress on the background of the 1919 act and the constitutional importance of lifetime tenure, it is also extremely important, in a political way, that we emphasize the positive contribution made by our senior judges. In a purely political vein, it seems to me that we should somehow manage to bring the individual stories of each retired senior judge to the attention of his local Congressman and Senators and the local press. Almost invariably these individuals are persons of great repute within their communities. Each of these judges has a history and a record of personal achievement and merit which can provide the foundation for a tremendous human interest story which deserves and would receive strong press coverage in the locality in which that judge is known. Finally, I have been surprised to discover an abysmal lack of understanding concerning the benefits which judges actually receive and who pays for them. My closest friend, a life member of the Judicial Conference of the Sixth Circuit, assumed automatically that my retirement, insurance benefits, health insurance and the like all were directly paid by the United States government in addition to the salaries that we received. Most people I find are of like mind and I believe this extends to members of Congress. They should of course know better, but most, I'll guess do not. The best answer to this is to show one's own pay statement for a month. This readily demonstrates that the net pay of the average Article III judge is usually well less than fifty percent of the gross. The public assumes that in addition to our pay we receive fringe benefits. This would be dispelled if our judges were willing to expose their financial picture completely to their local press including a photostatic copy of their W-2 forms and of their pay statements from the Administrative Office. The public has great curiosity about such disclosures and I am sure that they would achieve a great degree of publicity. Like most persons, we judges suffer embarrassment in laying out our own personal financial affairs and certainly nobody in private life is ever expected to undergo that humiliation. Nevertheless, if volunteers could be found, the local press exposure would, I think, be quite effective. You may not know this, but I have for many years been a secret admirer of yours. I have enjoyed your opinions, read your articles, and particularly appreciated the unique perspective which you bring to problems involving the third branch. I wish you the very best in your endeavors and remain willing to help you in any way I possibly can. |