An upstate Supreme has given up.  According to  this article in the New York Law Journal, Oneida County Supreme Court Justice Robert F. Julian has announced he’s resigning because he is “unwilling to further deplete my savings and reduce my lifestyle to continue in office.” 

What is interesting about this is that the wage compression problem is significantly reduced for upstate versus city judges.  The cost of living is just so much less upstate.  Complicating matters, their prospects in returning to private practice upstate aren’t all that great. 

Without either capital or clients, judges do not have strong drawing power in the private sector, especially in New York City. In addition, judges for the most part are generalists and do not have skills highly valued in the private sector with the exception of appellate judges and those who have been assigned to the commercial division of Supreme Court.

Thus, Justice Julian’s decision to leave the bench seems to be a very strong statement.  Of course, he’s not the first judge to walk away.

In 2006, County Court Judge Stewart A. Rosenwasser of Orange County announced his resignation, saying in a statement that he “did not foresee the sacrifices my service would impose on my family” when he took office

And Manhattan Supreme Emily Jane Goodman has been actively seeking a new job for a while now, and openly posted her thoughts at Judicial Reports.

The recurring theme coming out of these judges is that they are forced to eat away at their savings and investments to maintain their lifestyle while serving.  Of course, this what is happening with public defenders as well, just to make sure no one forgets about them.

The countervailing force is that there is no shortage of people seeking the blessing of county political leaders to get onto the ballot for a judgeship, though I tend to think that this is due to a secondary trend, even more unfortunate than the refusal to increase judicial salaries, of younger people wanting robes who come directly from one government job into another.  Having never earned a dollar on their own, they don’t find judicial salaries to be as much of a problem.  At least for now.

But Justice Julian’s point is dulled somewhat by his secondary reason for leaving the bench.

Julian said “merit selection proposals” put forward by the governor and others also had influenced his decision to leave, because they rely on “isolated instances of judicial transgression” to give the governor, Legislature and chief judge “the unprecedented power to appoint the judiciary.”

Exactly what “judicial transgressions” worry him?  Being a judge isn’t exactly like working at the car wash, where the boss can overlook someone coming in late every once in a while.  The obligation, given its impact on the lives of others, doesn’t leave a lot of room for transgressions.  So if that’s the worry, perhaps leaving the bench isn’t such a problem.

Notwithstanding some extremely cynical comments made here recently about the nature of people who want to sit in judgment of others, the system can’t function without intelligent and fair-minded judges.  Since judicial candidates are now a product of superb effort on envelope-stuffing day at the party headquarters, it would be irresponsible to ignore the potential of infusing merit into the selection process.  This is not to say that no local party favorite ends up being a good, even great, judge, but that some (perhaps many) have gamed the selection process to wind up exactly the sort of judge that makes Bennett wretch.

In any event, Justices leaving the bench was the legislature’s worst fear, since they were hoping that the judiciary would be just as political as they were and would hold tight until there was enough cash to spread around to everyone.  This puts their back to the wall, and will do more to bring the issue to a head than  all the op-eds that Chief Judge Judy Kaye could possibly write.  A few more high profile resignations and this could get interesting.