When a General Sessions Court judge from East Tennessee was suspended with pay for numerous ethical violations, prosecutors took the position that the judge was essentially getting a paid vacation. An effort to force Cocke County General Sessions Judge John Bell to pay the salaries of the replacement judges who will have to sit on the bench for him in Newport during his 90-day suspension failed this week because the Tennessee Constitution protects judges from having their salaries reduced during their term.
The section of the constitution that prevents judicial pay cuts also forbids judges from collecting pay raises during their terms or any fees or perks from the office.
The laws were designed to protect judges from politicians, one former judge says.
"It's a protective type of constitutional provision that keeps the legislature from getting mad at the judges and tinkering with their salaries," said Jerry Scott, a former Criminal Court of Appeals judge who sat on the Court of the Judiciary. Scott said he remembered one judge who drew his salary while serving time in prison.
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State Can't Make Suspended Judge Pay Substitutes
Boo-Hoo!
ReplyDeleteSo they protect the judges while the rip people off.
ReplyDeleteIf the bad judges had to pay when they were suspended and couldn't work, maybe -- just maybe they'd fly right.
ReplyDeleteJudges always protect one another. No matter what.
ReplyDelete