Panel investigating 96-year-old US judge asks court to toss lawsuit over probe
U.S. Circuit Judge Pauline Newman of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit appears in an undated photo. U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit/Handout via REUTERS Acquire Licensing Rights
Sept 5 (Reuters) - Judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit who are investigating their 96-year-old colleague Pauline Newman asked a Washington, D.C. federal court late on Friday to dismiss Newman's lawsuit challenging the unusual probe.
The three-judge investigative panel and the Federal Circuit's judicial council said the lower court had no jurisdiction over the appeals court's internal affairs, and that Newman was improperly challenging statutory mechanisms "that have long enabled the judiciary to effectively govern itself."
Newman, a revered figure in patent law, was appointed to the patent-focused Federal Circuit by President Ronald Reagan in 1984. In orders made public in April, the court's Chief Judge Kimberly Moore said Newman had shown signs of cognitive and physical impairment and accused her of refusing to cooperate with inquiries into her mental health.
Documents released in August detailed reports from court employees of "memory loss, confusion, paranoia and angry rants" from Newman and accused her of mishandling internal staff matters and failing to address a heavy backlog of pending cases.
A panel of three Federal Circuit judges accused Newman of misconduct for failing to comply with their investigation and recommended suspending her from hearing new cases for one year or until she cooperates.
The court's judicial council has already barred Newman from hearing new cases.
Newman has defended her mental acuity, and she sued in May to force the Federal Circuit to end the council's suspension and halt the probe or move it to another circuit, asserting that it violated her constitutional rights.
The judges' motion to dismiss the case on Friday called Newman's arguments "jurisdictionally deficient and meritless."
The motion said the investigation was not subject to review by an outside court. It also said the council's suspension order was constitutional and could only be challenged at the U.S. Supreme Court.
U.S. District Judge Christopher "Casey" Cooper ordered the case into mediation in July. The sides reported in August that they had failed to resolve the dispute.
The case is Moore v. Newman, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, No. 1:23-cv-01334.
For the Federal Circuit judicial council: Brian Boynton, Christopher Hall, Stephen Ehrlich and Andrew Zee of the U.S. Department of Justice
For Newman: Greg Dolin and John Vecchione of the New Civil Liberties Alliance
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Reporting by Blake Brittain in Washington
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