The U.S. Supreme Court case Jefferson County, Alabama v. William M. Acker Jr., Senior Judge, United States District Court, Northern District of Alabama and U.W Clemon, Judge, United States District Court, Northern District of Alabama in 1998 revolved around the issue of whether federal judges were required to pay Social Security taxes under the Self-Employment Contributions Act (SECA). The two federal judges argued that they should be exempt from these taxes as they are "employees" not "self-employed", hence falling under Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) which does not require them to pay social security tax unlike SECA. However, Jefferson County disagreed and sued for back payments on their Social Security contributions. In a unanimous decision led by Justice Stephen Breyer,the Supreme court ruled against the judges stating that although federal judges are considered government employees for most purposes; when it comes to taxation however ,they fall into a special category created by Congress - one where they must contribute towards their own retirement benefits through SECA rather than FICA . This ruling upheld an earlier decision made by Eleventh Circuit court.

In the dissenting opinion for Jefferson County, Alabama v. William M. Acker, Jr., Senior Judge, United States District Court, Northern District of Alabama and U.W Clemon, Judge, United States District Court Northern District of Alabama (1998), Justice Stevens argued that federal judges should not be exempt from paying occupational taxes levied by local governments on their income earned as public officials. He contended that there is no constitutional or statutory provision explicitly providing such an exemption and therefore it was incorrect to infer one implicitly. Furthermore he stated that this decision could potentially open a floodgate of litigation with other public employees seeking similar exemptions from local taxation which would undermine the financial stability of many municipalities across the country.