By MICHAEL VIRTANEN
Associated Press

ALBANY - New York Chief Judge Hon. Judith Kaye needed a moment to compose herself after Friday's Law Day ceremony outside the Court of Appeals, her last after 15 years as the state's top judge.

She was moved by the finality of the day, by court attendant Michelle Perry-Belches' powerful rendition of "America the Beautiful," and by the thought that, in her final months as chief judge, Kaye has had to sue the state Legislature for failing to raise judges' pay for a decade.

"It's just one of the additional reasons I'm so heartbroken we have to come to this juncture," Kaye said. "It was totally avoidable and unnecessary and remains so. It should be worked out."

Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, whose father named Kaye chief judge 15 years ago, had sharper words. "It is the collision of unfortunate and connected phenomena: The dysfunction of Albany meets the degradation of public service," he told about 200 judges, lawyers and others gathered outside the courthouse.

"I recused myself from the current pay-raise litigation because my office represents every party in the case on other matters," said Cuomo, which left lawmakers seeking private counsel. "But as a citizen I believe the Legislature must act immediately to pay our judges a salary commensurate with the awesome responsibility they bear."

Kaye filed suit last month after the Legislature, for the 10 straight year, didn't authorize raises for the 1,250 state-level judges.

Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno has blamed the Assembly for stalling the raises, saying the Senate approved pay hikes. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver has declined to comment. Judges' raises had been attached to politically sensitive raises for lawmakers, and neither has been approved.

Pay ranges from $108,800 for full-time city-court judges to Kaye's $156,000. The judges have proposed raising the benchmark salary for state Supreme Court justices from $136,700 to the current level of federal trial judges, $169,300, and others proportionately.

Meanwhile, some judges are recusing themselves from cases brought by state legislators and their law firms, citing a conflict of interest.

Kaye, who after turning 70 will retire at the end of the year, in a May 1 e-mail cautioned them not to refuse to hear lawmakers' cases as a form of protest. She wrote that "using recusal as a strategy rather than as a matter of individual conscience" would be perceived as retaliatory and weaken their cause.

"It's just a very sad thing when you have to sue partners in government," Kaye said, following her speech in support of the rule of law. She didn't think many judges were refusing cases, noting that recusal "is and always has been a very individual matter - meaning that when a judge feels he or she cannot be unbiased that there is some feeling for one party or another then the judge steps off the case."

She also rejected one judge's suggestion that she advise them all to do it. In her e-mail, Kaye noted that Gov. David Paterson last week acknowledged that the judges should get raises but advised against any work slowdown as protest - "an allegation we assured him is without merit."