Ruling: Judges entitled to pay raises

About 1,300 state judges are entitled to pay raises after 12 years without an increase, a Nassau County judge has ruled.

When the State Legislature approved judicial raises in 2009, the state was required to implement them, Justice Karen Murphy of State Supreme Court in Mineola said in a ruling Wednesday. It was made public Thursday.

Earlier judicial pay raises approved by the legislature were pegged to enabling legislation that was never enacted, but the 2009 appropriation was free of such restrictive language, the ruling said.

"Despite the repeated appropriations of money for judicial raises since 2006, the legislature, and most notably the Assembly, has found varied ways to thwart delivery of salary adjustments to the judges and justices of the Unified Court System," the judge wrote.

"Surely, defendant (New York State) is not suggesting that this court give credence to the argument that (the 2009 law) is merely the legislature's transparent attempt to, once again, mollify the judiciary . . . ," the judge wrote.

"Rather than declaring that the legislature has engaged in this subterfuge, this court finds (the 2009 law) was properly enacted by the legislature," Murphy said. "Clearly, the constitutional requirement that judicial compensation by 'established by law' is met by (the 2009 law) as enacted."

The State Legislature created a commission late last year to decide on pay raises for judges, but it has not yet been formed. Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman and his predecessor Judith Kaye have long lobbied for the judicial pay raises.

The suit is one of three involving judicial salaries at various stages of litigation.

A trial-level state judge now makes $136,700, or $37,300 less than a trial level federal judge.

The state attorney general's office said it was still reviewing the decision. The attorney for the six judges who brought the suit, Steven Cohn of Carle Place, said he expected the state would appeal.

Those judges, all Supreme Court justices, include Emily Pines of Nassau, lead plaintiff, Joseph Calabrese of Nassau and judges from Queens, Saratoga, Niagara and St. Lawrence counties.Judge Murphy noted that her own salary could be affected by her ruling, but "that consequence is true for all Supreme Court justices in the state," and no other judicial forum was available.