NEW YORK - A state judge said Tuesday that lawmakers violated the separation of powers doctrine by linking legislative and judicial pay and that four of his colleagues could proceed with their lawsuit to get pay hikes.

At the same time, state Supreme Court Justice Edward Lehner dismissed that part of the judges' lawsuit that said the Legislature, in effect, violated the law against cutting judicial pay by failing to adjust their salaries for inflation.

The lawsuit named Gov. Eliot Spitzer, the Senate and the Assembly. While ruling that the four judges could proceed against the lawmakers, Lehner dismissed Spitzer from the case on the ground that the governor had immunity on this issue.

The judge observed that all parties agree that the plaintiffs need and deserve a raise, which would be their first since 1999. He also noted the lawmakers, who also have not had a pay boost in nine years, wanted one, too, so they tied fatter checks for judges to a raise for themselves.

The legislators' proposal to give themselves raises was blocked by Spitzer because the governor wants them to act on campaign finance reform, Lehner said.

Depriving a coequal branch of government a pay adjustment when there is no dispute about it “does raise an issue as to whether the two other branches have abused their power and thus unconstitutionally interfered with the independence of the judiciary,” the judge wrote in his 19-page decision.

Lehner found that the four New York City judges had “set forth sufficient facts to warrant denial of defendants' application to dismiss” the claim for violating the separation of powers doctrine.

Tom Bezanson, who argued the case for the four judges - two from Family Court and one each from Civil Court and Criminal Court - said he was “delighted” and called the ruling “a watershed decision for the separation of powers.”

The lawyer said Lehner found that everyone was subject to “the ravages of inflation,” so the judge did not uphold the plaintiffs' claim that the 27 percent drop in the judges' purchasing power since 1999 was the Legislature's fault.

Dan Weiller, a spokesman for Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, would not comment on the decision except to say Silver supports raises for the judges.

Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno's office did not immediately return a telephone call for comment.

New York's highest-paid state judge makes $156,000 a year. Lehner said judges' pay had been so ravaged by inflation in the last nine years that a first-year associate at a large New York City law firm would have to take a pay cut to become the state's chief judge.

The judge said the plaintiffs had withdrawn a claim that the governor and Legislature “unlawfully impounded” $69.5 million they allocated in the budget for judicial salary increases.