U.S. Judge Gershwin Drain of Detroit; lifetime porker

The State of Michigan presented Gershwin Drain with a law license in 1972 after he graduated from the University of Michigan Law School.

Judge Drain has had his significant snout firmly implanted in the public trough for the last forty-four (44) years (ca. 1972 to 2016). Apparently, no self-respecting law firm in the greater Detroit, area was about to offer Gershwin a good paying job.

President Obama was duped into appointing Gershwin as a U.S. District Court judge for the Eastern District of Michigan in 2012. Gershwin didn’t receive the appointment because he was the most qualified attorney in the Detroit area. He received it because she had proven to be a reliable lackey for the local political hacks.

It should be noted that at the time of his appointment to the Federal bench, Gershwin was 63-years-old. The annual judicial pension from Michigan payable to Gershwin is around $90,000 or possibly more. This is based on the 2012 judicial pension of fellow District Court judge Janet Neff who received $90,864 in judicial pension payments based on 18-years of judicial service. Judge Drain had 26-years of judicial service in Michigan, which would likely mean he receives a much larger pension than Judge Neff.

In addition to his federal salary of $199,200 and his Michigan pension of let’s say $95,000, Drain also earned at least $59,000 in interest and dividends (ca. 2012 financial statement. Therefore, Drain’s annual income is somewhere in the neighborhood of $354,000.

It’s quite obvious that if it weren’t for a government check that, Judge Drain likely would have been relegated to working as lowly paid assistant prosecutor and/or Public Defender. He surely wouldn’t have been earning over $250,000 a year.

As we speak (ca. July 2016), Judge Drain continues to sit as a U.S. District Court judge in Detroit, Michigan.