Blacklock Says Legislature Must Raise Judicial Pay This Session

Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Jimmy Blacklock on Wednesday delivered his first State of the Judiciary address to a joint session of the Texas House and Senate, asking lawmakers to raise pay for district judges by 30%.

“If we want to attract and retain hard working rule of law judges, who are qualified to wield the extraordinary power our constitution gives them, it is absolutely essential that we raise judicial salaries significantly this session,” he said.

The Legislature has not raised the base pay for district judges since setting it at $140,000 per year in 2013. That makes Texas district court judges the third-lowest paid in the country, Blacklock said.

Increasing it would “encourage smart and serious and hardworking people of high integrity, who are committed to the rule of law to serve as judges and to stay as judges,” he argued.

The Texas Judicial Compensation Commission, a body charged with recommending salaries for statewide judges, last year recommended a 30% salary bump for district judges. 

That report also found that 39% of judges who left the judiciary in the 2022 and 2023 fiscal years said a higher salary would have compelled them to stay.

Even with a 30% increase, Blacklock said, district judges wouldn’t be matching the spending power they had in 2013. Cumulative inflation since then totals about 34% today, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.