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29 Third Branch 1 (1997)

handle is hein.journals/thirdbran29 and id is 1 raw text is: THE THIRD BRANCH 1090 Year-End Report on the Federal Judiciary Overview Newsletter of the Federal Courts 'Y Vol. 29 Number I January 1997 Special Issue Once again this year-in my eleventh annual report on the state of the Judiciary-I am struck by the paradox of judicial independence in the United States: we have as indepen- dent a Judiciary as I know of in any democracy, and yet the judges are very much dependent on the Legisla- tive and Executive Branches for the enactment of laws to enable the judges to do a better job of administering justice. Federal judges have tenure during good behavior, and their compensa- tion may not be diminished. And, since the time of Chief Justice John Marshall, these independent judges have exercised the authority to have the final say as to the meaning of the United States Constitution and the laws enacted by Congress. But it is Congress which decides how many federal judgeships there should be, and of what type they should be; Congress decides what kind of cases federal courts should hear, as well as, within limits, what procedures they should follow. Congress must appro- priate money for the Judiciary's budget and determine the salaries of all federal judicial officers. The 104th Congress enacted two bills of great importance to the Judi- Chief Justice William H. Relnquist ciary, both of which contained major parts of recommendations by the Judi- cial Conference: the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, and the Federal Courts Improvement Act. Un- fortunately, judges can only regret that Congress failed to repeal Section 140 of the Continuing Resolution Act of December 15, 1981, Public Law 97-92 (Section 140), which provides that no cost-of-living salary increases shall be granted to federal judges without express legislative approval. The Sen- ate version of this year's Federal Courts Improvement Act included a See Report on page 2

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