Fed Circ’s Newman fights competency probe in new lawsuit
Chief Judge Moore instituted an action against Newman under the Judicial Conduct and Disability Act | Such an investigation into a US Federal Circuit judge is thought to be unprecedented | 95-year-old Newman cites several factual errors allegedly made by Moore.
Federal Circuit Judge Pauline Newman is suing Chief Judge Kimberly Moore and other court members, in the wake of a controversial investigation into whether she has the capacity to carry out her role.
A violation of rights
Newman, who is 95, argues that this scrutiny represents a violation of her rights under the US Constitution in the lawsuit filed on May 10 at the US District Court for the District of Columbia.
Appointed by Republican President Ronald Reagan to the Federal Circuit in 1984, Newman is an IP expert who frequently hears patent cases related to technology.
In March, Moore instituted an action against Newman under the Judicial Conduct and Disability Act that cast doubt over her physical and mental ability to perform her judicial duties.
The order “identified a complaint” against Newman alleging that there is a “probable cause to believe that Judge Newman ‘has engaged in conduct prejudicial to the effective and expeditious administration of the business of the courts’ and/or ‘is unable to discharge all the duties of office by reason of mental or physical disability’.”
Such an action against a serving judge is thought to be unprecedented.
Following the order, Moore appointed a special committee consisting of herself, Circuit Judge Sharon Prost and Circuit Judge Richard Taranto to investigate Newman.
In her suit, Newman insists that she has been in sound health “at all relevant times” during her tenure as judge and has “continued to participate in en banc decisions of the court with no indication of any mental or physical disability”.
Undue process
The “undue haste with which the special committee is proceeding”, she argues,“is indicative of the denial of due process”.
She further alleges that Moore falsely stated in her March order that “[i]n the summer of 2021, Judge Newman, at the age of 94, was hospitalised after suffering a heart attack and having to undergo coronary stent surgery.”
This heart attack, contends Newman, was non-existent.
While the special committee has complained that Newman has repeatedly refused to submit to neurological and neuropsychological examinations, Newman counters that she was given an unreasonably short time-frame to respond.
She also points to evidence that allegedly disputes Moore’s suggestion that her output and productivity have been inadequate.
The data, Newman goes on to say, shows that there has been no difference in her timeliness or productivity between 2020 and late 2022.
Such empirical data, she insists, stands “in sharp contrast to these false allegations”.
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