Judge Pauline Newman loses case against suspension committee

U.S. District Judge Pauline Newman, 97, filed suit after she was suspended from hearing cases because she refused to submit to a psychiatric evaluation. Newman, a judge appointed by Ronald Reagan, was the oldest serving federal judge until her suspension. (Screenshot via YouTube)

Days after her 97th birthday, U.S. Appeals Judge Pauline Newman lost her challenge to a suspension based on concerns about mental impairment. Another federal judge on Tuesday rejected Newman’s claim that the law underlying her suspension was unconstitutional.

Newman told Bloomberg News on Tuesday that she intends to appeal.

At 97, Newman is the oldest federal judge. Appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1984, she was the first female judge to be directly appointed to the federal court. As noted in the suspension order, Newman “served with distinction” for nearly 40 years — and was even called a “hero of the patent system” — before being suspended for mental health reasons.

Newman refused to cooperate with an investigation into her mental health after her 90-year-old fellow judges reported delays in completing her work, several instances of inappropriate behaviour and concerns that the judge was constantly confused. The Committee on Judicial Conduct and Disability conducted the investigation into Newman’s mental capacity and found “overwhelming evidence” of the judge’s memory loss, lack of understanding and confusion, and noted that the judge was often “frustrated, agitated, argumentative and hostile towards court staff”.

The committee ordered Newman to undergo a 30- to 45-minute interview with a neurologist and a comprehensive neuropsychological evaluation that included hours of cognitive testing, but Newman refused to comply. She also refused to provide her medical records to the committee. The committee responded with a suspension order that prevented Newman from being assigned new cases.

Newman countered the suspension with a lawsuit against Chief Judge Kimberly A. Moore and all other federal judges in the federal court who had handled the complaint about her mental capacity. The chief judge described the move as “fighting fire with fire.” In the lawsuit filed in federal court, Newman challenged not only the actions taken against her, but also the provisions of the Judicial Conduct & Disability Act that the committee relied on in imposing the suspension.

Newman was represented in the suit by the New Civil Liberties Alliance (NCLA), a public affairs law firm with ties to conservative supporters that specializes in the so-called “administrative state.” U.S. District Judge Christopher R. Cooper, appointed by Barack Obama, dismissed parts of Newman’s lawsuit in February but allowed some claims to proceed until Tuesday, when Cooper dismissed the entire lawsuit on merits. In his 15-page ruling, Cooper did not focus on the actual allegations against Newman. Rather, the ruling was limited primarily to rejecting legal challenges to the Judicial Conduct & Disability Act itself.

Cooper ruled that Newman failed to show that the law was unconstitutional in principle or as applied to her case, noting that there was long precedent for giving investigative powers to a select committee.

Cooper wrote that in her briefs, Newman merely “repackaged an argument she made in the last round of motions that was rejected by the court,” and rejected her claim that the law’s investigation provision was invalid for vagueness.

Related Posts

Rabies alert issued in Sullivan County after positive fox test

Tamayo Perry, former professional surfer and “Pirates of the Caribbean” actor, apparently dies in a shark attack

Brookwood man killed in accident Tuesday night in Tuscaloosa