Cite as: 532 U. S. 557 (2001)
Opinion of Scalia, J.
to prevent invidious (and possibly coercive) action against judges. But as the Court acknowledges, the Clause " 'promote[s] the public weal' . . . by helping to induce 'learned' men and women to 'quit the lucrative pursuits' of the private sector," ante, at 568 (quoting Evans, supra, at 248; 1 J. Kent, Commentaries on American Law *294). That inducement would not exist if Congress could cut judicial salaries so long as it did not do so discriminatorily.
What the question comes down to, then, is (1) whether exemption from a certain tax can constitute part of a judge's "compensation," and (2) if so, whether exemption from the Medicare tax was part of the judges' compensation here. The answer to the more general question seems to me obviously yes. Surely the term "compensation" refers to the entire "package" of benefits—not just cash, but retirement benefits, medical care, and exemption from taxation if that is part of the employment package. It is simply unreasonable to think that "$150,000 a year tax-free" (if that was the bargain struck) is not higher compensation than "$150,000 a year subject to taxes." Ask the employees of the World Bank.
The more difficult question—though far from an insoluble one—is when an exemption from tax constitutes compensation. In most cases, the presence or absence of taxation upon wages, like the presence or absence of many other factors within the control of government—inflation, for example, or the rates charged by government-owned utilities, or import duties that increase consumer prices—affects the value of compensation, but is not an element of compensation itself. The Framers had this distinction well in mind. Hamilton, for example, wrote that as a result of "the fluctuations in the value of money," "[i]t was . . . necessary to leave it to the discretion of the legislature to vary its provisions" for judicial compensation. The Federalist No. 79, p. 473 (C. Rossiter ed. 1961); see also Will, supra, at 227 (the Constitution "placed faith in the integrity and sound judgment of the elected representatives to enact increases" in judicial sala-
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