Attorneys for the United States’ oldest active federal judge urged a lower court in Washington at a hearing on Thursday to allow her lawsuit to proceed against colleagues who suspended her from the bench last year.
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The unprecedented lawsuit from 96-year-old Judge Pauline Newman of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit accuses the circuit court’s judicial council of exceeding its constitutional authority.
The council is seeking to dismiss her lawsuit, arguing that the suspension was within the circuit court’s statutory rights to govern itself.
U.S. District Judge Christopher “Casey” Cooper at Thursday’s hearing questioned whether the Federal Circuit’s judicial council should have moved its investigation to another circuit, while also interrogating Newman’s argument that the suspension amounted to an improper impeachment.
Newman, who is seeking an order reversing her suspension, was appointed to the patent-focused U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit by President Ronald Reagan in 1984. She is known as a highly respected figure in patent law and a prominent dissenter.
The Federal Circuit’s chief judge, Kimberly Moore, said in orders made public last April that Newman had shown signs of cognitive and physical impairment and accused her of refusing to cooperate with inquiries into her mental health.
Court employees described “memory loss, confusion, paranoia and angry rants” from Newman in documents released by the circuit last August. The filings also said that Newman had mishandled internal staff matters and failed to promptly address a large backlog of cases.
The circuit’s judicial council, made up of the court’s active judges, suspended Newman in September for at least one year or until she sits for court-ordered medical examinations. The court had previously barred Newman from taking up new cases temporarily.
Newman did not attend Thursday’s hearing. She has defended her mental fitness and has made several public appearances since her suspension.
The judge sued the council in May, asking to restore her to the bench and halt the proceedings or move them to another circuit. The council asked the court to dismiss Newman’s lawsuit in September.
Cooper on Thursday expressed some support for Newman’s argument that the investigation should have been moved out of the Federal Circuit.
“Matters should be transferred to a different judicial council under extraordinary circumstances,” Cooper said. “It is somewhat difficult to imagine more extraordinary circumstances than here.”
Cooper also challenged Newman’s argument that the council’s action was beyond its authority, and asked if proceedings against judges facing similar disability allegations would be in the public interest.
“If you were a litigant, would you want that judge on your case?,” Cooper said.
Newman has separately appealed the suspension to the U.S. Judicial Conference, the federal court system’s governing body. The conference has not yet ruled on Newman’s appeal.
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