Williams v. U.S.

• Decision Date: 15 July 1999
• Docket Number: No. CIV. A. 97-3106(JGP).,CIV. A. 97-3106(JGP).
• Citation: 48 F.Supp.2d 52
• Parties: Spencer WILLIAMS, et al., Plaintiffs, v. UNITED STATES of America, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Columbia

48 F.Supp.2d 52

Spencer WILLIAMS, et al., Plaintiffs, v. UNITED STATES of America, Defendant.

No. CIV. A. 97-3106(JGP).

United States District Court, District of Columbia.

July 15, 1999.

John S. Guttmann, Jr., Beveridge & Diamond, P.C., Washington, DC, Kevin M. Forde, Richard J. Prendegast, Janice R. Forde, Chicago, IL, Plaintiffs.

Neil H. Koslowe, U.S. Dept. of Justice, Washington, DC, Carter G. Phillips, Sidley & Austin, Washington, DC, for U.S.

OPINION

JOHN GARRETT PENN, District Judge.

The plaintiffs, twenty United States District Court judges appointed pursuant to Article III of the Constitution of the United States, filed this case as a class action seeking to have the Court declare that Section 140 of Pub.L. No. 97-92 (Section 140) does not operate to prevent the payment of Employment Cost Index (ECI) adjustments due federal judges under the Ethics Reform Act of 1989 (Pub.L. No. 101-194, 103 Stat. 1716)(now codified at 5 U.S.C. § 5318, note), sometimes hereinafter referred to as the "1989 Act," "because: (1) Section 140 expired on September 30, 1982; or (2) the provisions of Section 140 were superseded by the Ethics Reform Act of 1989 or, (3) the salary adjustments payable by operation of the Ethics Reform Act have been `authorized by Act of Congress hereafter enacted' within the meaning of Section 140." Otherwise, the plaintiffs ask the Court to declare "that Section 140 is unconstitutional or void." The case is before the Court on plaintiffs' Motion for Summary Judgment and defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment. The parties agree that there are no genuine issues of material fact. Fed.R.Civ.P. 56. The Court certified this case as a class action. See Fed.R.Civ.P. 23.

I

Article III, Section 1 of the Constitution provides, in pertinent part, that judges of the United States Courts "shall hold their Offices during good Behaviour, and shall, at stated Times, receive for their Services, a Compensation which shall not be diminished during their Continuance in Office." (The Compensation Clause). The compensation of a federal district judge, appointed pursuant to Article III, is defined, in part, at 28 U.S.C. § 135, which provides in pertinent part: "Each judge of a district court of the United States shall receive a salary at an annual rate determined under Section 225 of the Federal Salary Act of 1967 (2 U.S.C. §§ 351-361) (Salary Act) as adjusted by" 28 U.S.C. § 461, of the Executive Salary Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act (Adjustment Act). The plaintiffs contend that the Adjustment Act, as amended by the Ethics Reform Act, requires that the salary of a federal judge be adjusted annually pursuant to an index set forth in the 1989 Act. The plaintiffs note that the adjustment is subject to one condition only, that there be in the same fiscal year an adjustment in the rates of pay of positions covered by the General Schedule determined under the Federal Pay Comparability Act of 1970, Pub.L. No. 91-656, 84 Stat.1946 (1971), codified at 5 U.S.C. 5305-5306 (Comparability Act). The Comparability Act is the mechanism for annually adjusting the rates of pay of most federal employees to reflect increases in the cost of living and salary increases in the private sector.

In the Ethics Reform Act, Congress revised the pay system for high-ranking government officials, including federal judges. The Act changed the method by which the salary of federal judges would be periodically reviewed by the Commission, imposed severe limitations on the outside income judges can earn, forbade receipt of honorariums and provided a new mechanism for annual adjustments to judges' pay. The Ethics Reform Act provided that each judge would receive a base salary increase, effective January 1, 1991. Relevant to the contentions of the plaintiffs, the Act provided that, beginning in 1991 and in each subsequent year, the salary of a federal judge shall be adjusted based upon a specific schedule and index. Under the Act, in any year in which salaries of General Schedule employees are adjusted under the Comparability Act, federal judges' salaries are to be adjusted by an amount equal to one-half of one percent less than the percentage change in the ECI for the period ended December of the previous year. Ethics Reform Act, § 704(a)(1)(B). The statute also provides a five percent cap on any adjustment per year. Thus, according to the plaintiffs, the law makes the ECI adjustment automatic, the only condition being that there must be an adjustment in the rates of pay for General Schedule employees in the same year. Absent an adjustment for General Schedule employees, there is no adjustment for the judges.

The federal judges' salaries were adjusted pursuant to the Ethics Reform Act on the first day of January 1991, 1992 and 1993. In 1994, there was no adjustment for General Schedule employees and as a result no adjustment for the judges. There were ECI adjustments for General Schedule employees in 1995, 1996 and 1997, but no ECI adjustment or COLA for the federal judges in those years. It is the latter years and future compensation that are the subject of this case. As argued by the defendant, the failure of the federal judges to receive ECI adjustments for those years resulted from the fact that Congress, acting pursuant to Section 140, did not vote an ECI adjustment for federal judges in those years.

II

Before addressing the merits of this litigation, the Court will address whether it is necessary for this Court to recuse itself from consideration of this case. This matter is addressed in view of the defendant's "Suggestion of Designation and Temporary Assignment of District Judge Who Took office on or After January 1, 1998, to Hear and Decide This Case." The Court hastens to note that the defendant has not requested the Court to recuse itself; rather, it suggested that the assignment to a federal judge appointed after the complaint was filed and one who was not a sitting Article III judge during 1995, 1996 or 1997 might raise less of an issue of an appearance of conflict. The plaintiffs opposed the Suggestion and the Court concluded that there is no impediment to the Court retaining this case.

There is no Article III federal judge who does not have an interest in the case. This includes judges appointed before and after December 31, 1997. Thus, any decision in this case will affect the compensation of every Article III judge.

A similar issue was addressed in United States v. Will, 449 U.S. 200, 101 S.Ct. 471, 66 L.Ed.2d 392 (1980), a case which both sides to the controversy contend dictates the decision the Court must reach on the merits in this case. Like this case, Will involved a question as to whether Article III judges should have received a cost-of-living increase during four years in question. The Supreme Court concluded that the federal judges were entitled to the cost-of-living adjustment for two of the four years. More important on the limited issue relating to disqualification or recusal, the Supreme Court concluded that neither the District Court judge in Will nor any Justice of the Supreme Court was required to be disqualified though both the District Judge and the Justices of the Supreme Court could be said to have an interest in the outcome of the case. In so holding, the Supreme Court recognized the continuing validity of the Rule of Necessity. It noted that the rule "had its genesis at least five and a half centuries ago." 449 U.S. at 213, 101 S.Ct. at 480. Second, the Supreme Court concluded that 28 U.S.C. § 455 (relating to disqualification of a judicial officer) "was to deal with the reality of a positive disqualification by reason of an interest or the appearance or possible bias." 449 U.S. at 216, 101 S.Ct. at 481. It was "not intended by Congress to alter the time-honored Rule of Necessity." 449 U.S. at 217, 101 S.Ct. at 482. The Supreme Court went on to state that "we would not casually infer that the Legislative and Executive Branches sought by the enactment of § 455 to foreclose federal courts from exercising `the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is.'" 449 U.S. at 217, 101 S.Ct. at 482 (citing to Marbury v. Madison, 1 Cranch 137, 177, 2 L.Ed. 60 (1803)).

This Court is not required to recuse itself is this case. Nor is this Court disqualified from hearing this case. The case cannot be transferred to any Article III judge who does not have an interest in the outcome of the case simply because it affects every Article III judge. The Court concludes that, pursuant to the Rule of Necessity, this Court can hear and decide this case.

III

Any discussion relating to the compensation of Article III federal judges must begin with consideration of the comments and words of the Founding Fathers of this great nation. As the Supreme Court noted in Will, "[t]he Compensation Clause has its roots in the long standing Anglo-American tradition of an independent Judiciary." 449 U.S. at 217, 101 S.Ct. at 482. "A Judiciary free from control by the Executive and the Legislative is essential if there is a right to have claims decided by judges who are free from potential domination by other branches of government." 449 U.S. at 217-218, 101 S.Ct. at 482. This view can been traced to our Founding Fathers who were very aware of the importance of an independent judiciary. In Federalist No. 79, Hamilton stated that "[n]ext to permanency in office, nothing can contribute more to the independence of the judges than a fixed provision for their support." He noted that "[i]n the general course of human nature, a power over a man's subsistence amounts to a power over his will. And we can never hope to see realized in practice, the complete separation of the judicial from the legislative power, in any system which leaves the former dependent for pecuniary resources on the occasional grants of the latter." Hamilton observed that "the salaries for judicial officers may from time to time be altered, as occasion...