A career as federal judge isn't what it used to be

A federal judgeship may offer lifetime tenure and represent the pinnacle of a legal career, but evidently it isn't quite the plum it used to be.

That's what federal judges in Miami found when just eight lawyers expressed interest in a vacancy that once would have attracted dozens of ambitious attorneys.

The shrinking pool of aspirants points up two major drawbacks to serving on the federal bench these days: Salaries are far lower than what fresh-faced law-school grads can make at big corporate firms. Just as off-putting, the Senate confirmation process can drag on so long that nominees feel their careers are in limbo.

"It's a bitter, ugly process," says Edward Davis, chief judge of the district court in Miami at the time a judgeship came open two years ago. (He has since left the bench for a more lucrative job with a law firm.)

These difficulties - exacerbated by early retirements among sitting federal judges - are bringing subtle but significant changes to the face of the federal bench.

Today's candidates are less likely to have recent experience in the private sector - and a much larger share is independently wealthy. In the end, some legal analysts warn, the changes point toward a federal judicial system that may command less respect and stature than it has in the past.

If President Bush's first year of judicial nominations is any guide, the task of recruiting and retaining judges won't get any easier. Several candidates approached by the Bush administration declined the offer, the White House says, while most of those who accepted are having their nominations held up in the Senate.

In Mr. Bush's first year in office, the Democratic-controlled Senate confirmed 28 of his 70 nominations, leaving 100 vacancies unfilled. Democratic leaders say the switch in control of the Senate and the aftermath of Sept. 11 explain much of the delay, but others say it's also motivated by revenge.

"In a sense, the Republicans asked for this, because it's the treatment Clinton nominees got for years. But it doesn't make it right," says one former Clinton judicial nominee.

Some legal observers say candidates to lower courts are receiving the same scrutiny once reserved only for the US Supreme Court. That's because the high court is hearing fewer and fewer cases, while the trial-level district courts and the 11 Circuit Courts of Appeals are increasingly the final forum.

Even as politicians and observers place blame for the holdups, judges say nobody is doing much to fix another problem: salaries.

District-court judges earned $145,100 last year, the same as members of Congress. But that salary falls far below what most could pull in at law firms. After several promised cost-of-living increases weren't enacted, veteran judges' purchasing power declined 13 percent during the 1990s, according to a American Bar Association report.

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