BRAD BUMSTED
COLIN EVANSIt’s good work if you can get it.
The pay is $611 per day, and it’s sweetened by the fact that nearly every person in the job is also earning a state pension.
The lucrative position is that of Pennsylvania Senior Judge – a role filled by more than 100 retired judges from across the commonwealth who are available to step in during vacancies, absences or recusals on the state’s highest judicial panels – the Supreme, Superior and Commonwealth courts – and on county courts of common pleas.
As retired judges, almost all senior judges collect pensions, said Joe Mittleman, director of Judicial District Operations for the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts, the administrative arm of the Supreme Court. And that can add up to significant payments to the judges serving in the role.
Case in point: Senior Judge Correale F. Stevens, former President Judge of Pennsylvania’s Superior Court and once an Associate Justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, collected the most in per diems among senior judges since 2017, according to records obtained by The Caucus under the courts’ open records rules.
Stevens was paid $795,450 in per diems from 2017 through July 1, records show. His peak year of per diems during the five-year period was 2021, when he was paid $150,471. In 2020, the start of the pandemic, he collected $148,546, records reflect.
In addition, Stevens, 75, of Hazelton, collects a state pension of $64,566, according to a Right to Know Law request to the State Employees Retirement System. Stevens is also a former state legislator and ex-Luzerne County District Attorney.
Stevens did not return calls or emails.
Senior judges can serve for 10 years or until the end of the year they turn 78, whichever comes first. Other judges can't serve beyond 75. A state constitutional amendment approved by voters in 2016 raised the mandatory retirement age for judges from 70 to 75. But because senior judges are provided for under the constitution, the 75 age cap didn’t apply to them.
The per diems collected by senior judges are different from those claimed by members of the General Assembly. Legislators’ per diems of about $180 daily are intended to cover food, lodging and miscellaneous expenses if they live more than 50 miles from the Capitol.
But per diems for senior judges are “pay for services,” Mittleman said. The senior judges may also charge mileage and lodging costs on top of the per diems if they travel, for instance, to preside in another county.
Some of Stevens’ colleagues earned less in per diems but collected higher pensions.
Senior Judge Bonnie B. Leadbetter, of Commonwealth Court, received $395,653 in per diems from 2017 to the middle of this year. Her annual pension is $92,316, state retirement records show.
Senior Judge Emanuel Bertin, who was assigned to Chester County Common Pleas Court and others, receives a $108,922 pension. His per diems totaled $393,587 over the five-and-a-half years, and he received reimbursements for mileage and other expenses.
He and Leadbetter were among the top five per diem recipients over that time, according to a Caucus analysis. Neither could be reached for comment.
‘A judge has to be there’
The $611 per diem on top of pensions ranging into the six figures, seems a steep cost for taxpayers. “But there really aren’t a whole lot of alternatives,” said Bruce Antkowiak, a former federal prosecutor and law professor at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe. Senior judges are “absolutely necessary,” he said.
In almost all cases, “a judge has to be there,” said Antkowiak. Diverting a full-time sitting judge who could be presiding over a major case to handle routine pleas and DUI cases makes no sense, Antkowiak said. ”Hiring more regular judges is not going to be cost effective,” he added.
Most senior judges serve on county courts and fill in as district judges. The per diem rate is lower — about $270 — for those sitting in as district judges. About 100 additional senior judges fill in on district courts and as Philadelphia Municipal Court judges. Those on the Philadelphia court typically get $611 per diems, according to Mittleman.
An 8% salary increase is expected for all judges starting in December, based on a 1996 Cost of Living Adjustment law that ties salaries for many elected officials to the inflation rate measured in the greater Philadelphia area. That will likely boost the per diem for senior judges to almost $660 — a figure estimated by The Caucus.
It should be noted some senior judges work for free, Mittleman said. “There are a number of judges who do not request payment for days they work,” Mittleman said.. “They view it as a service.”
Data-driven approach
Senior judges comprise a small portion of the state judiciary, a system overall with more than 1,000 judges and magistrates. But the role is an “invaluable” part of the statewide judicial system, said Stacey Witalec, a spokesperson for the state court system. A sitting judge’s illness or retirement can create immediate need.
Still, a data-driven approach by the Supreme Court to use senior judges more efficiently reduced the total amount spent on per diems, mileage and expenses by 42 percent from 2017 to 2021, according to records provided by the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts.
The data provided to The Caucus by the court system showed both a reduction in senior judges used and a reduction in the number of hours worked. The amount spent on senior judges decreased from $5.9 million to $3.4 million between 2017 and 2021.
“The Supreme Court did not ask for a reduction in the usage of senior judges,” said Witalec, the court spokesperson. With a data-based approach, the court system can see “if a district needs senior assistance to handle their caseload,” Witalec said.
“There are several advantages to using senior judges because of caseload” as opposed to adding another judgeship, Witalec said.
Caseloads rise and fall, and an increase in caseload can be temporary, she said. It’s better to use a senior judge for that period rather than using only elected judges, said Witalec.
Correction: An earlier version of the story miscalculated the value of senior judges' per diem rate following a predicted 8% COLA. The version above has been updated.
