SCOTUS declines to hear appeal of oldest active federal judge's suspension
Judge Pauline Newman, now age 98, of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in May 2023. Newman will turn 99 years old this month. (Photo by Bill O’Leary/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Updated: The U.S. Supreme Court will not hear an appeal from a 98-year-old judge—who’s also the oldest active federal judge—of an order suspending her from her duties.
On Monday, the Supreme Court issued an order declining to review the matter.
Judge Pauline Newman of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit had been suspended from the Federal Circuit in 2023 after reports of “memory loss, confusion, paranoia and angry rants,” according to coverage by Reuters.
A council of the Federal Circuit’s active judges, led by Federal Circuit Chief Judge Kimberly Moore, had imposed the suspension after finding that Newman had refused to cooperate with their investigation.
Newman has challenged the suspension, arguing that she is fit to serve, and that her due process rights had been violated. According to Reuters, she has also claimed that the suspension violated the impeachment clause of the U.S. Constitution, giving Congress the sole power to remove federal judges.
Newman’s lawsuit was dismissed in July 2024 by U.S. District Judge Christopher R. Cooper of the District of Columbia, who held that courts are allowed to police themselves.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia then upheld the dismissal in 2025, according to Reuters. The U.S. Judicial Conference’s Committee on Judicial Conduct and Disability also upheld the suspension in March, according to Reuters.
Newman, an expert in patent law, had been appointed to the Federal Circuit—the court that handles patent and certain types of intellectual property appeals—in 1984 by then-President Ronald Reagan. Newman will turn 99 years old this month.
Newman, who declined to comment to Reuters, said in her filing with the Supreme Court she was being improperly sidelined until “she gives in to the bullying and retires or takes senior status.”
Her attorney, Andrew Morris of the New Civil Liberties Alliance, a conservative legal group, told Reuters that he was disappointed that the high court “did not take this opportunity to protect judicial independence.”
According to Reuters, Moore, who’s represented by U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer, argued in her filing with the Supreme Court that the Judicial Conference, not federal courts, has jurisdiction over suspensions.
Law360 also had coverage.
Updated June 22 at 12:30 p.m. to clarify the judge’s status.
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