What is the current state of the law on compensation and tenure for federal judges?

These statutory provisions draw upon the more ancient wisdom grounded in history and contained in Article III, which safeguards federal judicial independence through still more stringent compensation and tenure provisions. See Kaufman, Chilling Judicial Independence, 88 Yale L.J. 681 (1979). The independent judiciary is structurally insulated from the other branches to provide a safe haven for individual liberties in times of crisis. ¹¹ By analogy, "the process of agency adjudication is currently structured so as to assure that the hearing examiner exercises his independent judgment on the evidence before him, free from pressures by the parties or other officials within the agency." Butz v. Economou, 438 U.S. 478, 513, 98 S.Ct. 2894, 2914, 57 L.Ed.2d 895 (1978).