Joseph Cervantes

The third time was a charm in an effort to get New Mexico judges and justices a bigger paycheck. After vetoing proposals to increase judicial salaries two years in row, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has signed into law a 21% bump for the bench.

This year marks the New Mexico Legislature’s third attempt to raise the salaries of their coequal branch of government in the judiciary. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has vetoed raises for state Supreme Court justices and most lower court judges two years in a row. But a change to this year’s bill may gain the governor’s support.

For the second year in a row, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has vetoed raises for the state’s judges and justices that the Legislature had approved.

The New Mexico House on Wednesday approved raises for state supreme court justices and lower court judges. The bill now heads to the governor who vetoed a similar proposal last year.

In the summer of 2020, against a backdrop of outrage over racist police violence and massive demonstrations following the Minneapolis police murder of George Floyd, Democratic lawmakers in New Mexico passed a law requiring law enforcement to use body-worn cameras and save the footage. Now, Senate Democrats are rolling the law back, creating more leniency and exemptions.

One of the constitutional amendments on the ballot this year concerns appointed judges. It’s asking voters if they think these judges should be spared election in their first year of appointment.

State lawmakers discussed parallel efforts to make the criminal justice system fairer and combat rising rates of violent crime

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