Private Sector Pay "Parity" for Federal Judges (and Agency General Counsels)?

The Washington Post reported last week that the salaries for the federal judiciary increased on January 1 after federal judges won a class action lawsuit last year challenging Congress’s refusal to give them cost-of-living increases.  Federal judges had not received any pay increases for five years.  As a result of the lawsuit (not congressional action), the annual salary for a federal district court judge will increase from $174,000 to $199,100. The eleven district court judges who serve on the FISA Court (hearing applications for emergency court orders for surveillance of suspected terrorists and spies on a 24-hour basis, often on nights and weekends) do not receive any extra compensation for their FISC work, which is additional to their regular docket.  At least they have the prestige of serving on the Court... And the judges can take heart.  Before the lawsuit, their compensation was roughly the equivalent of a third-year associate in a large law firm, according to the National Association of Legal Professionals.  With the cost-of-living increase, district court judges (including those who serve on the FISA Court) will now be paid on par with a fourth- or fifth-year major law firm associate.  Circuit court judges will earn about as much as a sixth-year associate. Judges are still doing somewhat better than the general counsels of the major national security departments (including the general counsels of the Departments of Defense, State, and Homeland Security and the CIA, each of whom supervises hundreds and even thousands of agency lawyers), who are paid at the Executive Level IV rate of $157,100 -- less than the starting salary of a first-year associate in a large law firm.