The perks of being a federal judge just got fewer.

Some might feel a little paranoid about the latest development at Facebook.

Robert A. Levy doesn’t own a gun, but he is at the heart of a Second Amendment case that the Supreme Court agreed to hear last week.

Levy, a millionaire and lawyer with lots of Washington connections, used his money to finance a challenge to the District of Columbia statute that prohibits the ownership of handguns.

The 31-year-old statute also places restricts on the possession of other firearms, including a requirement that the guns in homes be unloaded.

Membership in the Federalist Society, a group for conservative or libertarian law students and lawyers, has recently helped open doors to jobs in the federal government, especially the judiciary.

But given the Democratic Congress and other factors, Federalist Society membership, or even past Federalist Society membership, may not be the plus it was.

At least that’s what Rachel K. Paulose has alleged.

As baseball managers know, life isn’t always fair.

You put the team together, you make the key decisions, and the people who work for you make the big bucks.
The analogy isn’t exact, but something like that is happening at the U.S. Supreme Court, which opened its 2007-08 term on Monday.

The nine justices make the decisions. And for this they get paid fairly well, $212,000 for Chief Justice John Roberts, $203,000 for the eight associate justices.