In Re Court Reporter Salaries in the Knox Circuit & Superior Courts

I.Procedural background

The judges of the Knox Circuit Court, Knox Superior Court I, and Knox Superior Court II were troubled by the current salaries earned by their court reporters and assistant court reporters. Their budget materials for 1998 submitted to the Knox County Council included requests for raises for those individuals, but the raises were not fully approved. Requests to reconsider were effectively denied by the Council. The judges of the three courts — Honorable Murphey C. Land (Circuit Court), Honorable W. Timothy Crowley (Superior I), and Honorable Jim R. Osborne (Superior II) —…