580
Opinion of the Court
also Rosenn, The Constitutional Guaranty Against Diminution of Judicial Compensation, 24 UCLA L. Rev. 308, 314- 315 (1976).
We have found nothing to the contrary. And we therefore agree with the Court of Appeals' similar conclusion. 185 F. 3d, at 1363 ("[E]verything in the record" suggests that the increase was meant to halt "the slide in purchasing power resulting from continued and unadjusted-for inflation").
The Government says that a circumstance-specific approach may prove difficult to administer. Brief for United States 43. And we concede that examining the circumstances in order to determine whether there is or is not a relation between an earlier violation and a later increase is more complex than the Government's proposed automatic approach. But we see no reason why such relief as damages or an exemption from Social Security would prove unworkable.
Finally, the Government looks to our decision in Will for support. In that case, federal judges challenged the constitutionality of certain legislative "freezes" that Congress had imposed upon earlier enacted Government-wide cost-of-living salary adjustments. The Court found a Compensation Clause violation in respect to the freeze for what was designated Year One (where Congress had rescinded an earlier voted 4.8% salary increase). Will, 449 U. S., at 225- 226. The Government points out that the Will Court "noted that Congress, later in that fiscal year, enacted a statutory increase in judges' salaries that exceeded the salaries that judges would have received" without the rescission. Brief for United States 41. And the Government adds that "it was unquestioned in Will" that the judges could not receive damages for the time subsequent to this later enactment. Id., at 41-42.
The Will Year One example, however, shows only that, in the circumstances, and unlike the case before us, the later salary increase was related to the earlier salary diminishment. Regardless, the very fact that the matter was "un-
Page: Index Previous 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007