Posted on 12/12/2024 4:42:59 PM PST by Libloather
Judge Pauline Newman, the oldest federal judge in America at age 97, is continuing to fight against a suspension from the bench by her colleagues who found her mentally not fit enough to serve. Newman is appealing her suspension and has also filed a motion to unseal documents related to an investigation which ultimately led to her being temporarily removed from the bench.
Newman, who was appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1985 to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, was barred from serving in September 2023 for a year by the Federal Circuit's Judicial Council after the panel said she refused to cooperate with an investigation into "reasonable concerns" surrounding her mental fitness. The suspension was extended for another year by the panel in September.
The Committee on Judicial Conduct conducted more than 20 interviews with court staff pointing to her "significant mental deterioration including memory loss, confusion, lack of comprehension, paranoia, anger, hostility and severe agitation," per court documents.
The suspension order also said Newman was slower than her colleagues in issuing opinions and had "amassed a troubling backlog of cases," which her team has said is not accurate.
The Federal Circuit Court on which Newman has served for nearly 40 years deals frequently with patent, intellectual property and copyright cases. Newman is considered a leading intellectual property jurist.
The investigation into Newman led her to file a federal lawsuit against her fellow judges.
U.S. District Judge Christopher R. Cooper, a President Obama appointee, threw out most of Newman’s lawsuit in February, then dismissed the entire case on the pleadings in July, per Law & Crime.
In his 15-page ruling, Cooper rejected the legal challenges Newman had raised to the Judicial Conduct & Disability Act and did not focus on the factual allegations against Newman.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Typical judge.
Which Circuit?
Obama appointee wants to remove a Reagan appointee. They couldn’t care less about Democrat idiots on the bench. I’m going to side with the old girl. Pricks couldn’t wait a couple years for her to die.
Hey!! if she can HEAR WELL, reason well and knows her law, she is probably leap years ahead of most of the liberal lefty goons serving now!!!...
Good to know my ancestors fought the Revolution so we could install a new self selecting aristocracy known as “judges”.
Don’t think a bunch of back woods Western North Carolina settlers and farmers quite had this in mind.
we need term limits for judges, too.
Incredibly sad.
Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
In DC, across the street from the White House.
Good for her. I want her to hang on until Trump replaces her.
A friend of mine interned for her one summer in the 80’s. She was a very sharp, and I just took a look at a recent speech she gave. Some people are great intellectuals their whole lives, she appears to be one. Reagan appointee the left is just trying to get out so so Biden can try to replace her.
HELLO!!! You do realize that the 80’s were 40 YEARS AGO!! She had better be sharp at 57....now not so much!
WHY was she not pulled MUCH, MUCH sooner?
Let me guess.
She’s a committed leftist who reliably rules as left as possible.
She is a Fed Circuit Judge. The Fed Circuit hears all the patent cases and she is a lioness of patent law. But sadly, she has stayed too long and needs to retire. She really is a good person.
97? [Childless?] Cat lady should get a life and a hobby as she’s used up (wasted) almost all of hers being a judge.
Quote: “ She’s a committed leftist who reliably rules as left as possible”
The Federal Circuit doesn’t hear the kind of cases that make one say “leftist.” For example, they hear all the maritime law appeals, patents, trademark registrations, government contracts, veterans’ benefits, public safety officers’ benefits, federal employees’ benefits, and various other types of cases.
Paulie just needs to retire. She can’t let go.
Time is the undefeated champion. Time to step down.
Google her recent videos. Not many in as good a shape as she is for her age.
Federal Judges are appointed for life. It takes, literally, an Act of Congress, to "pull" a Federal Judge who refuses to retire, or semi-retire, as by becoming a "Senior Judge" which creates a vacancy for the President to fill.
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