Great job, big pay, superb retirement, months of vacation.

Justices making more but working less, challenger maintains

State Supreme Court candidate Bob Bastress believes justices are working less and taking less responsibility for opinions yet making more money than ever before.

He says a review of records shows the court agreed to hear only 11 percent of the appeals filed in 2006 compared to the 52 percent heard in 2000.

Bastress said the percentage of appeals considered in 2006 could be an historic low for the state.

Cases being resolved through written opinions also are seeing a sharp decline, Bastress said. His numbers show that in 1997, justices issued 324 opinions. Last year, 121 were issued.

Bastress also points to the diminishing amount of time the court is in session. He said until recently, the court's fall term ran until mid-December. Last year, the court shut down before Thanksgiving, he said. He noted the court also has increased its summer vacation by nearly a month.

Meanwhile, justices' pay has increased from $72,000 to $121,000 since 1994.

"It's just the irony of it," said Bastress, a law professor at West Virginia University.

Bastress was to announce his findings at press briefings today in Morgantown, Clarksburg and Beckley.

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