Iowa Supreme Court Chief Justice Susan Christensen asked for judicial pay increases and a reorganization of the state's magisterial system in her sixth address to the Legislature on Wednesday. In her annual Condition of the Judiciary speech, Christensen also urged lawmakers to address low pay for court-appointed attorneys.
Christensen's requests for pay increases, magistrate reorganization and more attention to the state's contract attorney shortage echo requests from her past addresses. This year, her speech focused on "leadership" — a topic she said she consulted past and current state political leaders on from across Iowa's three branches of government.
"Across every conversation, the message was unmistakable: 'Do what you believe is right, even when it is not popular. And when difficult decisions must be made, explain yourself,'" she said.
Over the past year, Christensen said the judicial branch has sought to address challenges, such as compensation issues and unbalanced workload issues for magistrates, by raising the floor for underpaid employees reducing the number of magistrates across the state, respectively.
Pay increases for district judges
Christensen asked legislators to increase pay for district court judges by 4.2%. Last year, the chief justice asked to link district court judge salaries to 75% of federal judge salaries, equivalent to a salary increase of around 10.2%.
"We recognize that would be a big step in a single year," she said. "But couldn’t we begin to close the gap?"
Christensen said the stagnating pay has hindered the state's ability to attract top recruits and retain talent. The average number of applicants for a district court judge was five in 2025, according to Christensen.
The chief justice said an opening last year for a district court judge in southeast Iowa only drew two applicants. The district has around 940 licensed attorneys.
"Mark my words: We are a whisper away from there being a judicial opening with one applicant," she said. "At that point, how can the commission or governor meaningfully evaluate qualifications, experience or temperament? They can't."
Reduction in number of magistrates
Christensen also proposed the state assign magistrates by judicial district rather than by county. State court administration would be responsible for determining the appropriate number of magistrates per district.
Magistrates are part-time judicial employees who are expected to dedicate around a third of their work week — about 13 hours — to their duties. She said magistrates in 92 counties currently have workloads that fall below this threshold.
"The way we pay magistrates and distribute their work doesn't make sense, and more importantly, it isn't fair," she said. "All magistrates are paid exactly the same, even though there's a huge disparity in the workloads."
Currently, the state has 138 magistrates. Christensen estimates the state could reduce the number of magistrates by 60.
Under her proposal, magistrates would be expected to dedicate 40% of their work week to their magisterial duties. Their salaries would be correspondingly raised.
The chief justice estimates the reorganization could save the judicial branch at least $2.5 million each year.
Addressing the state's shortage of contract attorneys
As in previous years, Christensen drew attention to the state's low hourly rate for court-appointed attorneys.
Court-appointed attorneys represent clients who are unable to afford their own counsel. Defendants may use court-appointed attorneys when there's no public defender in their area for their case type if the local public defender has a conflict or if the state public defender's caseload is too full.
In some cases, court-appointed attorneys are used because they are more cost-effective than hiring a public defender for a rural area.
Christensen said court-appointed attorneys in Iowa make less than those in surrounding states, and that is discouraging lawyers from taking on court-appointments.
Without the necessary attorneys for individuals who can't afford their own defense, Christensen said cases can be dismissed, letting defendants avoid prosecution.
"It might be easier if contract attorneys represented only our most vulnerable children and families," she said. "But keep this in mind: If we fail to meet our constitutional obligation to provide counsel to all who qualify — including criminal defendants — we cannot keep our communities safe."
Christensen also said an external review found a quarter of staff was underpaid compared to similar government jobs.
The judicial branch's budget request to the Department of Management included nearly $3 million for increasing salaries and another $1 million to avoid wage compression between new hires and long-time employees under their new compensation structure.
