000512	10whyte_wmp_a_16.wma
000000	MARK SMITH:  How would you currently describe the relationship between the Federal Judiciary and Congress?
000012	JUDGE WHYTE:  Well, that's a difficult question to respond to.
000015	I suppose I could say comfortably that the relationship is not as good as it could be or should be.
000027	I think there is a perception sometimes that we don't work as hard as we do.
000038	I think the public and perhaps Congress people sometimes look and see a courtroom dark and say, gee, the judge isn't working.
000051	As a practical matter, the easier work I generally do is when I'm in court, the hard work is done in my chambers outside of the courtroom.
000101	And I would be very happy to have a Congress person follow me around for a day or a week and see the type of effort I, as well as my colleagues, put in.
000117	I also think that there is a little bit of a lack of appreciation for the need to pay somewhat competitive salaries to judges as they could get on the outside, 
000135	and I don't think it needs to be as much because there's a lot of aspects of being a judge that are very rewarding and perhaps prestigious.
000151	But if we don't recognize that we've got to compete with the private market, we're going to find fewer qualified people willing to become judges 
000203	and perhaps skew the type of person that would be willing to become a judge.
000211	And you might find that you have only those that are financially well enough off to afford to or be willing to take the pay cut that would be necessary to become a judge.
000227	So I think that's a concern.
000230	And I also think that sometimes Congress doesn't appreciate the function of the court.
000236	The court, to some extent, is to protect the minority against the majority, and sometimes Congress wants to pursue a law 
000248	or have a law carried out that is very popular with the majority of people and therefore it's popular with them.
000257	Whereas it runs into some constitutional problems, and that's the reason we have courts to make sure that we are truthful to the constitution and protect all individuals.
000313	And I think we see that sometimes when laws are passed and maybe they're passed in a way that's kind of deliberately ambiguous where opponents and proponents 
000327	of a particular bill are able to reach a compromise because each can interpret it the way they want to interpret it, 
000335	and therefore it falls on the court to come out with an interpretation that makes half or some of the people very unhappy.
000345	But that's what courts are for, and I think there needs to be an appreciation of that task.
000351	MARK SMITH:  To ask further about the wages of judges.
000354	I remember reading recently Chief Justice Roberts brought up those same concerns, and I think he referred to that as a borderline constitutional issue, the lack of appropriate wages.
000410	Do you think it's that big of a problem right now?
000413	JUDGE WHYTE:  I'm not sure what -- I know he's made some speeches on the subject and been very adamant in his position that we need to worry about judges salaries.
000428	I'm not familiar with a constitutional issue.
000430	Maybe I should be -- I'm not.
000433	MARK SMITH:  I could be mistaken too.
000435	JUDGE WHYTE:  Off the top of my head I'd have trouble seeing it as a constitutional issue.
000439	To some extent, compared to perhaps teachers or nurses, I feel a little bit awkward complaining about judges' salaries.
000455	But I do think it's important that we keep qualified people, and we're not going to do it if we don't be careful about what we compensate judges.
000509	MARK SMITH:  You brought up good points.