96-Year-Old Judge, Federal Circuit Must Mediate Fitness Dispute

A D.C. federal judge ordered 96-year-old Judge Pauline Newman and her colleagues on the Federal Circuit to mediate a contentious dispute over whether Newman is fit enough to keep serving on the bench.

Judge Christopher R. Cooper of the US District Court for the District of Columbia on Tuesday directed the parties to set up informal resolution talks with retired appellate Judge Thomas P. Griffith, special counsel at Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP.

Mediation would begin a new chapter in an unusually public employment clash within the judiciary, which has sparked renewed debate over lifetime appointments.

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