91ST CONGRESS 1st Session

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SENATE

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REPORT No. 91-449

PROVIDING FOR THE RETIREMENT OF U.S. JUDGES AFTER 20 YEARS OF SERVICE

OCTOBER 2, 1969.-Ordered to be printed

Mr. TYDINGS, from the Committee on the Judiciary, submitted the

following

REPORT

[To accompany S. 1508]

The Committee on the Judiciary, to which was referred the bill (S. 1508) to amend provisions of law relating to the retirement of ustices and judges of the United States, having considered the same, reports favorably thereon, with amendment, and recommends that the bill, as amended, do pass.

AMENDMENT

The bill is amended by adding a new section (b) to its provisions as follows:

"(b) The first paragraph of section 373 of title 28, United States Code, is amended by inserting immediately after the last comma herein the following: "or at any age after serving at least twenty ears continuously or otherwise."

PURPOSE OF AMENDMENT

The amendment is designed to provide the judges of the district ourts for the territories and possessions with retirement benefits imilar to those provided to the justices and judges of the United States under the provisions of the first section of the bill.

PURPOSE OF THE BILL

The purpose of the proposed legislation, as amended, is to provide etirement benefits to Federal judges and justices after 20 years of ervice regardless of their age.

STATEMENT

Retirement benefits play an increasingly significant role in attracting the most capable people to the most responsible positions. It is important, therefore, to constantly review the benefits available to key government officials, including the members of the judiciary. Although the full pay benefits available to federal judges upon retirement compare favorably with any retirement system in business, industry or the private practice of law, they are obtainable under existing provisions of law only at age 70 after 10 years of service or at age 65 after 15 years of service. S. 1508 is designed to improve the present retirement system by providing judges with benefits after 20 years of service regardless of age.

S. 1058, however, will not only serve to make the Federal bench more attractive to younger, more vigorous men, but will serve also to increase available judicial manpower. Each time a judge accepts senior judge status and retires, leaving regular active service, a vacancy occurs on his court, a vacancy that can be filled by the appointment of a new regular active service judge. The judge on senior status may continue to perform such judicial duties as he is willing and able to undertake. Almost without exception, those judges who take senior status continue to carry a substantial workload. The "retirement" of a judge thus means a bonus of increased manpower to the retired judge's court, increased manpower that can help alleviate existing backlogs and avoid future ones. Both the retired judge and his newly appointed successor can be employed in the disposing of the business of the court, where before only one could be so employed.

In fact, few aspects of the Federal judicial system have been more beneficial to the country than those which enable judges to retire from active service, and, yet, continue to perform such judicial duties as they are willing and able to undertake. Without the work of the present senior judges, our Federal judicial system would be overwhelmed by its caseload. By providing for retirement after 20 years of service regardless of age, those judges who could take senior judge status under the amendment would be under 65 and fully able to continue to carry a full workload. It is difficult to disagree with the following statement by Albert Branson Maris, himself a great senior judge:

One of the great benefits of the Federal judicial retirement system is that retired senior judges are available for especially assigned judicial duty and can contribute a very large amount of time to judicial work, thus greatly benefiting the system by assisting in those areas where the caseloads are heaviest. As retired judges get older, of course, they become less able to make this contribution, but judges approaching age 70 are mostly vigorous and able, and to facilitate their retirement will be to add very substantially to judicial manpower in places where it is badly needed."

Hearings on S. 1506-1516 before Subcommittee on Improvements in Judicial Machinery of the Seaste Committee on the Judiciary, 91st Cong., first sess. (1969).

S. Rept. 91-449

SECTIONAL ANALYSIS

The first section of S. 1508 amends subsection (b) of section 371 of title 28, United States Code, to provide that a judge or justice of the United States may retire with the salary of his office after 20 years of service, continuously or otherwise, regardless of his age.

The phrase "judge of the United States" is defined in section 451 of title 28, United States Code, and includes judges of the courts of appeals, district courts, Court of Claims, Court of Customs and Patent Appeals, Customs Court and any other court created by act of Congress, the judges of which are entitled to hold office during good behavior. The phrase "justice of the United States", as defined in section 451, includes the Chief Justice of the United States and the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court.

Section (b) of S. 1508 amends the first paragraph of section 373 of title 28, United States Code, to provide that a judge of the United States District Court for the District of the Canal Zone, the District Court of Guam, or the District Court of the Virgin Islands may resign after 20 years of service regardless of age and continue during the remainder of his life to receive the salary he received when he relinquished office.

Attached hereto, as part of this report, is a list of active Federal judges completing 20 or more years of service during calendar year 1969 who would not be eligible for retirement in 1969 under existing provisions of law.

CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW

In compliance with subsection (4) of rule XXIX of the Standing Rules of the Senate, changes in existing law made by the bill as reported, are shown as follows (existing law proposed to be omitted is enclosed in black brackets, new matter is printed in italic, existing law in which no change is proposed is shown in roman):

TITLE 28, UNITED STATES CODE

CHAPTER 17-RESIGNATION AND RETIREMENT OF Judges

(b) Any justice or judge of the United States appointed to hold office during good behavior may retain his office but retire from regular active service after attaining the age of seventy years and after serving at least ten years continuously or otherwise, or after attaining the age of sixty-five years and after serving at least fifteen years continuously or otherwise, or at any age after serving at least twenty years continuously or otherwise. He shall, during the remainder of his lifetime, continue to receive the salary of the office. The President shall appoint, by and with the advice of the Senate, a successor to a justice or judge who retires.

S. Rept. 91-449

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§ 373. JUDGES IN TERRITORIES AND POSSESSIONS.

Any judge of the United States District Court for the District of the Canal Zone, the District Court of Guam, or the District Court of the Virgin Islands, who resigns after attaining the age of seventy years and after serving at least ten years, continuously or otherwise, or after attaining the age of sixty-five years and after serving at least fifteen years, continuously or otherwise, or at any age after serving at least twenty year continuously or otherwise, shall continue during the remainder of his life to receive the salary he received when he relinquished office.

PRESENT (ACTIVE) JUDGES COMPLETING 20 OR MORE YEARS OF SERVICE DURING CALENDAR YEAR 1969 AND NOT ELIGIBLE FOR RETIREMENT IN 1969 UNDER EXISTING PROVISIONS OF LAW