Judges on a Washington-based federal appeals court publicly filed on Wednesday that the court should maintain its suspension of their 97-year-old colleague, Circuit Judge Pauline Newman, for another year. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit’s judicial council, comprised of the court’s active judges, suspended Newman last year after she refused to cooperate with an investigation into her fitness following staff concerns about her mental health. The court barred her from hearing new cases for at least one year or until she submits to court-ordered medical examinations.
The three-judge committee investigating Newman — Chief Circuit Judge Kimberly Moore, and Circuit Judges Sharon Prost and Richard Taranto — stated on Wednesday that she did not provide sufficient evidence to lift the suspension. “Judge Newman has not presented any information to undermine the voluminous record the Committee compiled last year raising serious concerns about Judge Newman’s cognitive state,” the committee said.
The judicial council will consider the committee’s recommendation to extend Newman’s suspension, which is currently set to expire in September. Newman’s attorney, Greg Dolin of the New Civil Liberties Alliance, told Reuters that the suspension was “unlawful” and vowed to continue challenging it. Newman has defended her fitness, citing reports from doctors she selected, and she has made several public appearances and given several interviews since her suspension.
A spokesperson for the Federal Circuit declined to comment. Newman, whom former President Ronald Reagan appointed to the patent-focused Federal Circuit bench in 1984, has been an influential jurist in patent law and a prominent dissenter at the court.
Federal Circuit’s Chief Judge Kimberly Moore stated in orders made public last April that Newman showed signs of serious cognitive and physical impairment and accused her of refusing to cooperate with inquiries into her mental health.
Court employees reported last August that Newman exhibited “memory loss, confusion, paranoia and angry rants.” The reports also mentioned that she mishandled staff matters and failed to address a large backlog of cases. Newman argued to the council last month, in a filing made public on Wednesday, that the investigation “could and should have been terminated months ago in light of clear evidence of Judge Newman’s continued ability to exercise the functions of her life-tenured office.”
The investigative committee stated that Newman’s arguments were insufficient. “None of this undermines the basis for the medical examination orders — the strong concerns established by the extensive record compiled by the Committee showing troubling signs of cognitive decline, often resulting in angry and abusive behavior towards staff, with many witnesses describing increasingly erratic behavior in 2023,” Wednesday’s unsealed filing said.
Newman has separately sued the court’s judicial council in Washington, D.C. federal court to end her suspension. That case was dismissed, and Newman has appealed the decision.
