By Blake Brittain
WASHINGTON, June 15 (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court declined on Monday to hear a bid by the nation’s oldest federal judge, 98-year-old Pauline Newman, to overturn her suspension from duties in 2023 during an investigation into her fitness to serve.
The justices turned away Newman’s appeal of a lower court’s decision to reject her legal challenge to her suspension from the Washington-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Newman had argued that the Federal Circuit violated her constitutional rights by suspending her and is seeking reinstatement.
Newman, a respected figure in patent law, was appointed in 1984 by Republican President Ronald Reagan to the Federal Circuit. It handles patent appeals nationwide and frequently rules in intellectual property cases involving major companies.
A panel of Federal Circuit judges cited staff reports of Newman’s “memory loss, confusion, paranoia and angry rants” in documents released by the court in 2023. A council of all of the court’s active judges, led by Chief Judge Kimberly Moore, unanimously voted to suspend Newman later that year after finding that she refused to cooperate with an investigation into her fitness.
The Federal Circuit’s suspension of Newman remains in place.
Newman has maintained that she is fit to serve and sued Moore and the council in federal court in Washington. A judge dismissed Newman’s case in 2024 after finding that courts have “consistently affirmed the judiciary’s authority to police itself.”
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld that ruling in 2025.
The Committee on Judicial Conduct and Disability of the Judicial Conference of the United States, part of the federal judiciary’s governing body, also has upheld Newman’s suspension.
Newman told the Supreme Court that the Federal Circuit overstepped its authority under the U.S. Constitution, and argued against the D.C. Circuit’s ruling that federal law barred court review of her suspension. Newman said the suspension violated her rights to due process and ran afoul of the constitutional provision giving Congress the power to remove federal judges through impeachment.
“Chief Judge Moore has invoked the Disability Act improperly to perpetually sideline Judge Newman until she gives in to the bullying and retires or takes senior status,” Newman said in a filing, referring to a 1980 law that empowers a circuit court’s judicial council to investigate misconduct or disability allegations against its judges.
Moore, represented by U.S. Solicitor General John Sauer, responded in a filing to the Supreme Court that Newman’s claims are without merit, and that the Judicial Conference, not a federal court, is responsible for reviewing her suspension.
Andrew Morris, an attorney at the conservative legal group New Civil Liberties Alliance that represents Newman, expressed disappointment that the justices “did not take this opportunity to protect judicial independence.”
“We will continue to pursue available avenues to vindicate Judge Newman against her stealth impeachment,” Morris said.
A spokesperson for the Federal Circuit declined to comment on Monday.
(Reporting by Blake Brittain in Washington; Editing by Will Dunham)
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