US appeals court questions 97-year-old judge's challenge to her suspension
Judges for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit sharply questioned Newman's lawyer over her claims that the Federal Circuit violated the U.S. Constitution by suspending her for failing to cooperate with an investigation into her fitness to serve on the court.
However, the judges also probed the Federal Circuit's decision not to move the investigation to another appeals court and questioned the constitutionality of part of the law underlying the suspension.
Newman is the oldest U.S. federal judge not to have taken a form of semi-retirement known as senior status. Appointed to the Federal Circuit by Republican President Ronald Reagan in 1984, Newman is a respected figure in patent law and a prominent dissenter at the court, which frequently rules on high-stakes intellectual property cases involving major companies.
The Federal Circuit's chief judge, Kimberly Moore, said in orders made public in 2023 that Newman had shown signs of serious cognitive and physical impairment. The circuit's Judicial Council, consisting of the court's active judges, suspended Newman later that year after finding that she refused to cooperate with an investigation into her fitness.
Newman has maintained that she is fit to serve and sued the council over her suspension. The D.C. Circuit heard Newman's appeal on Thursday after a Washington district court dismissed her lawsuit last year.
Newman's attorney Greg Dolin of the New Civil Liberties Alliance told a three-judge panel that the suspension, which can be renewed annually, amounted to an unconstitutional impeachment that only Congress could legally perform.
U.S. Circuit Judge Patricia Millett said it was an "extraordinary proposition" that impeachment was the only way for courts to remove judges from service. She outlined a hypothetical situation as an example.
"They're in the hospital going in and out of consciousness, and your argument is 'wow, let's impeach them,'" Millett said.
U.S. Circuit Judge Cornelia Pillard echoed Millett, citing her personal experience with a relative with dementia.
"Is there nobody in the system who can take steps against the conscious, intelligent person whose judgment is in trouble?," Pillard said.
The case is Newman v. Moore, U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, No. 24-5173.
For Newman: Greg Dolin of the New Civil Liberties Alliance
For the Federal Circuit judicial council: Melissa Patterson of the U.S. Department of Justice
Read more:
US appeals judge, 96, suspended in rare clash over fitness
US appeals court judge sues to halt competency probe
US judge, 97, loses lawsuit seeking reinstatement
Reporting by Blake Brittain in Washington
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