JUDGES NOT ENTITLED TO DAMAGES BASED UPON INADEQUATE COMPENSATION.

The Court of Appeals determined present and retired judges were not entitled to damages based on inadequate compensation during the years legislation considering judicial compensation was improperly linked to unrelated policy initiatives. Although the Court of Appeals struck down the practice, called linkage, as a violation of the separation of powers, the court did not make the finding that judicial compensation was in fact too low during those years. To do so and award damages would intrude on the legislature's budgetary powers:

…[W]e suggested that money damages would be an inappropriate form of relief from the State's unconstitutional linkage practice because any mandate that the State pay money damages would, as a practical matter, be tantamount to a directive to increase judicial compensation in a manner that would arrogate the legislative branch's budgetary powers to the judiciary. Thus, we observed that, in fashioning a remedy, “deference to the Legislature — which possesses the constitutional authority to budget and appropriate — is necessary” … and that “whether judicial compensation should be adjusted, and by how much, is within the province of the Legislature” … . Larabee v Governor of the State of N.Y., 2016 NY Slip Op 03646, CtApp 5-10-16

JUDGES (JUDGES NOT ENTITLED TO DAMAGES BASED UPON INADEQUATE COMPENSATION)