Complains about money. Conservatives give him a crap ton.
Isn’t this just a quid pro quo with a few extra steps?

The court pays over twice median household income for Washington DC. So he should have no problem affording to live there. On the other hand their pay is a bit low for what the job is. Inflation adjusted pay for the court has kind trended between 2x and 4x of current median household income so at a little above 2x it is on the lower end of historical. Perhaps a pay increase to 3x median income is reasonable.