Want to be a rich judge? Get a TV show

Compared with the salaries of most Americans, judges’ salaries are enviable. But when you see how much TV “judges” make, it makes our judicial salaries look miniscule.

TV Guide magazine says that “Judge Judy” Judy Sheindlin, makes $45 million a year. Another TV judge, Joe Brown, makes $20 million a year.

With $45 million, you could pay 287 Indiana justices’ salaries for one year; the salaries of 295 Court of Appeals judges or 345 trial judges for the year. In case you are wondering, that does include the 1.3 percent pay increase former Chief Justice Randall Shepard approved last year. That pay increase is twice the average pay increase state judges saw in 2011, according to the National Center for State Courts.

The NSCS also reports the median salary of a trial court judge – Judge Judy’s real-world professional equivalent – is $132,500. Indiana trial judges currently make $130,080.