OCTOBER TERM, 2000
Syllabus
certiorari to the united states court of appeals for the federal circuit
No. 99-1978. Argued February 20, 2001—Decided May 21, 2001
In 1982, Congress extended Medicare to federal employees. That new law meant, inter alia, that then-sitting federal judges, like all other federal employees and most other citizens, began to have Medicare taxes withheld from their salaries. In 1983, Congress required all newly hired federal employees to participate in Social Security and permitted, without requiring, about 96% of the then-currently employed federal employees to participate in that program. The remaining 4%—a class consisting of the President, other high-level Government employees, and all federal judges—were required to participate, except that those who contributed to a "covered" retirement program could modify their participation in a manner that left their total payroll deduction for retirement and Social Security unchanged, in effect allowing them to avoid any additional financial obligation as a result of joining Social Security. A "covered" program was defined to include any retirement system to which an employee had to contribute, which did not encompass the non-contributory pension system for federal judges, whose financial obligations (and payroll deductions) therefore had to increase. A number of federal judges appointed before 1983 filed this suit, arguing that the 1983 law violated the Compensation Clause, which guarantees federal judges a "Compensation, which shall not be diminished during their Continuance in Office," U. S. Const., Art. III, § 1. Initially, the Court of Federal Claims ruled against the judges, but the Federal Circuit reversed. On certiorari, because some Justices were disqualified and this Court failed to find a quorum, the Federal Circuit's judgment was affirmed "with the same effect as upon affirmance by an equally divided court." 519 U. S. 801. On remand, the Court of Federal Claims found that the judges' Medicare claims were time barred and that a 1984 judicial salary increase promptly cured any violation, making damages minimal. The Federal Circuit reversed, holding that the Compensation Clause prevented the Government from collecting Medicare and Social Security taxes from the judges and that the violation was not cured by the 1984 pay increase.
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