A lawyer representing both Governor Paterson and the speaker of the Assembly, Sheldon Silver, is pledging to question state judges about their ability to do their jobs independently.

In legal papers filed yesterday, the lawyer for the two politicians, Richard Dolan of Schlam Stone & Dolan LLP, indicated that he would seek sworn testimony from members of the state judiciary — if the judiciary, as a whole, is permitted to press ahead with a lawsuit seeking a pay raise.

The pay raise lawsuit accuses Messrs. Paterson and Silver and the Senate majority leader, Joseph Bruno, of underpaying judges so severely as to violate the state constitution. The suit, brought by Chief Judge Kaye on behalf of the entire state judiciary, alleges that the pay scale threatens the independence and functioning of the judiciary. The salary of a state judge is about $136,700.

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In papers filed yesterday, Mr. Dolan claims it is “fanciful” to believe that “the failure to raise judicial salaries threatens the independence of the Judiciary.” The lawyer suggested that he would prove that claim by putting a series of pointed questions to judges.

The defense will seek to learn, Mr. Dolan wrote, “whether each judge feels that the lack of a pay increase affects his or her independence, whether he or she is ‘demoralized,'” as well as details about the household income of the judges. The papers did not indicate how many of the state’s 1,181 full-time judges Mr. Dolan intended to question.

Mr. Dolan is still some way from eliciting sworn testimony from judges. At present, the judge presiding over the case, Edward Lehner of state Supreme Court in Manhattan hasn’t issued any significant rulings in the case. It’s possible that the case will be dismissed or the pay raise dispute resolved before a trial is ever held.

Mr. Dolan’s promise to question judges under oath comes after a lawyer for the judges indicated that he would seek to question Messrs. Silver and Bruno about how much income each makes outside the Legislature. Neither Mr. Silver, who is associated with the personal injury firm Weitz & Luxenburg, or Mr. Bruno, a consultant, have disclosed their income from these jobs. The amount of income each receives has long been a topic of speculation in Albany.

A lawyer representing the judges, Bernard Nussbaum of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, told The New York Sun that it is “interesting” that the defendants would seek to question judges about their finances “when they fought bitterly to prevent a trial from taking place at which they would have to testify about how much outside income they earn — something which judges cannot do.”

More generally, Messrs. Paterson and Silver’s joint court filing questions whether the judges’ main complaint — that they have not received a pay raise since 1999 — would get much sympathy from past generations of New York jurists. Reaching back into history, Mr. Dolan cites a 39-year stretch, beginning in 1887, when the pay for judges on the state’s highest court didn’t increase once. For decades, the state Constitution even carried a prohibition against giving judges a pay raise during their term of service, Mr. Dolan wrote.

The court filing notes that judges “are among the most highly compensated State officials,” often making more than commissioners of state agencies who “oversee tens of thousands of employees and budgets in the billions of dollars.” The filing also suggests that judges are understating their pay by ignoring the pension and insurance benefits offered to them by the state.

A spokesman for Mr. Bruno, Mark Hanson, declined to provide the legal filing submitted on the majority leader’s behalf. The filing was not immediately available through the court system.