Federal Circuit Panel Seeks Added Suspension of Judge Newman

Judges at the Federal Circuit recommended suspending their colleague Judge Pauline Newman, the nation’s oldest active federal judge, for a third time, arguing she’s stonewalled investigators looking into whether she’s suffering from a disability.

The Judicial Council of the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit released a trove of materials Monday afternoon that includes a report from a committee of judges recommending a third year-long suspension prohibiting Newman, 98, from getting new case assignments or participating in cases where the court sits en banc.

“The Committee continues to believe that Judge Newman’s conduct refusing to undergo the medical examinations ordered by the Committee is a serious matter,” wrote the three-judge investigative committee, which consists of Chief Judge Kimberly A. Moore and Judges Sharon Prost and Richard G. Taranto.

Newman’s “conduct prevents the Committee from completing the process established by Congress for determining whether a life-tenured judge suffers from a disability,” the committee wrote. “Litigants before this Court deserve to have confidence that the judges ruling on their matters do not suffer from a cognitive impairment that may affect the resolution of their cases.”

Newman was first suspended from hearing new cases in April 2023. A previous one-year suspension was approved by the court’s 11 other active judges in September. Monday’s recommendation stresses that the punishment would be “subject to consideration of modification or rescission if Judge Newman alters her conduct” and undergoes full neuropsychological testing.

Newman has challenged her suspensions administratively and through a lawsuit, which was dismissed by a district court judge and is on appeal at the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit.

John Vecchione of the New Civil Liberties Alliance, which has represented Newman in both her administrative and litigation efforts, was critical of the report, saying it “demonstrates more clearly than anything that this tribunal should’ve sent this case to another circuit.”

Newman has questioned why the Federal Circuit didn’t elect to have different regional circuit court look into the claims about her alleged disability.

Vecchione noted that the recommendation comes mere days after a July 24 hearing in which Newman’s legal team argued against an additional suspension.

“The experts who have spoken for Newman said she’s competent and capable of doing the job,” he said. “No single expert for the tribunal would say she’s not competent, just that they’d like to see more questioning.”

“Anyone who’s seen her at the many conferences she’s spoken at knows she’s competent,” he added.

The DC Circuit appeal, which raises arguments about the constitutionality of the Judicial Conduct and Disability Act, was argued in April.