By ADAM SICHKO
The Business Review

New York's highest court ruled 5-1 Tuesday that state legislators have violated the state constitution by linking their own pay increases to those for judges.

The state Court of Appeals ruled that legislators have violated the separation-of-powers doctrine by making potential pay raises for the judiciary dependent on simultaneous pay raises for themselves.

The state's 1,200 judges have not had a pay raise since 1999, the longest drought in the nation. The Court of Appeals ruling resolves three lawsuits against the state, dating back to 2007, seeking back pay and cost-of-living adjustments.

"The independence of the judiciary is improperly jeopardized by the current judicial pay crisis," Hon. Eugene Pigott Jr. wrote for the majority. "Judicial compensation, when addressed by the Legislature in present and future budget deliberations, cannot depend on unrelated policy initiatives or legislative compensation adjustments."

However, the majority declined to impose any specific remedy to the situation, limiting its ruling to the finding that the legislators' actions are unconstitutional.

"Of course, whether judicial compensation should be adjusted, and by how much, is within the province of the Legislature," Pigott wrote. "We therefore expect appropriate and expeditious legislative consideration."

Annual pay for a state Supreme Court judge is $136,700.

Chief Judge Hon. Jonathan Lippman recused himself from the votes because he, on behalf of the entire state court system, was a party in one of the three lawsuits before the Court of Appeals.

Hon. Robert Smith dissented in the cases.

"Separation of powers is violated not when one of the three branches acts irresponsibly - that happens all the time - but when one threatens the place of another in the constitutional scheme," Smith wrote.

Smith said such circumstances do not exist with regard to judicial pay, even though he acknowledged "a depressing truth" that some judges have left their jobs as a result of stagnant salaries.

"Bad as the present situation is, neither of the disastrous conditions I have mentioned - a bench that cannot be filled with competent people, or one whose financial dependence makes it the slave of the Legislature - exists or is close to existing," Smith said. "There are still plenty of able judges, and plenty of able people who would willingly become judges, even at today's pay levels."

In response to the ruling, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan, said he supports judicial pay raises. However, he ruled out even considering them until the economy strengthens and the state's fiscal health improves.

New York State Bar Association President Michael Getnick said the decision "sends a strong message that judges are entitled to be compensated at a level commensurate with their knowledge and experience, and for the critical role they play in ensuring that justice is served."