(Photo by Bill O’Leary/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
We know most of the moving parts of what’s happening with the coup against Pauline Newman at the Federal Circuit. Her colleagues are trying to bypass the constitutionally approved way of impeaching judges — a vote of impeachment by the House and a trial and conviction by the Senate — and instead decided to withhold cases from her after she didn’t bow out and take senior status. As you would expect of a panel that’s acting as judge, jury, and executioner, they want to toss Newman’s lawsuit aiming at reinstatement. But as we talk about the case’s progression, it would be in good form to update our reporting with the information that has come out over time. From Bloomberg Law:
Federal Circuit Chief Judge Kimberly A. Moore launched the fitness probe in late March in the wake of Newman allegedly suffering a cardiac incident—the details of which have been hotly contested—and amid concerns over her productivity.
Given that the original accusation — that the judge had a heart attack and had stents put in her heart — was disproven by a scan and her medical records, it is hardly fair to refer to this as “hotly contested.” If anything warrants the phrase, maybe it’s the doctor who took the panel to task for “distorting” the medical report that gauged Newman’s mental acuity. Someone lied under conditions that are damned close to being under oath and has faced no real consequences.
Her colleagues allege Newman’s no longer able to perfom [sic] simple tasks, lacks focus and has accused the court’s IT staff of hacking her computer.
Is attending and speaking at conferences a simple task? Because she seems to be knocking those out of the park. Lacking focus? Again, unless there are some substantive issues with Dr. Rothstein’s assessment, reporting on this should advise the reader to take it with a grain of salt. As far as the hacking is concerned, I can’t say for certain that this is what they are referring to, but it sounds pretty similar to something Pauline mentioned during my interview with her. Here is an excerpt from that conversation:
…
I assume switching out computers and not being able to access my files got “heard it through the grapevined” into hacking. While the committee may very well be referring to a different incident, I wanted to at least show my cards. The Bloomberg article continues:
The outbursts detailed in filings “were only the tip of the iceberg,” according to Friday’s reply brief. “While those significant concerns about Judge Newman’s fitness persist today, the circumstances surrounding her amended complaint do not. Judge Newman has steadfastly re-fused to comply with the Special Committee’s common-sense requests that she undergo specified cognitive testing, provide specified medical records, or even participate in an inter-view with the Committee.”
Yeah, about those “common-sense requests.” From the very beginning, Judge Newman has argued, rather persuasively, that submitting this information to a panel full of people accusing (and in the case of the heart attack, outright lying) her of physical and mental health deficiencies is a clear conflict of interest and a due process issue. The common-sense request was her initial one — that a different circuit do the evaluation.
As the story develops, try to keep an eye out for Special Committee parroting that’s being passed off as an objective relaying of facts.
Deny Oldest US Judge’s Case for Reinstatement, Colleagues Argue [Bloomberg Law]
Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s. He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who cannot swim, a published author on critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at cwilliams@abovethelaw.com and by tweet at @WritesForRent.