Federal Judges’ Life Tenure at Stake in Supreme Court Dispute

The Supreme Court is being asked to bolster the constitutional principle of life tenure for federal judges in a case brought by “The Great Dissenter.” That’s the moniker for Judge Pauline Newman, a 98-year-old jurist who is being barred by her colleagues from hearing cases. Judges on the Federal Circuit of the United States Court of Appeals deem Judge Newman unfit to serve. Yet per the Constitution, it’s not the judges’ decision to make.President Reagan in 1984 nominated Judge Newman to the bench on the Federal Circuit, which hears cases on arcane matters relating to, say, government contracts and intellectual property disputes. Judge Newman’s “opinions have been instrumental in developing patent law over the last thirty years,” legal scholar Daryl Lim reckons. Her dissents — whence her nickname — “serve as an institutional record for course correction,” Mr. Lim adds.Yet in 2023, the judicial panel of the Federal Circuit prohibited Judge Newman from taking on new cases. Judge Newman’s colleagues argued that “she refused to submit to medical evaluations” designed to “probe allegations that she suffered from memory loss and confusion.” It’s hard to see where Judge Newman’s colleagues found the constitutional basis for this demarche, though. Article III, Section 1 of the Constitution, after all, ordains life tenure for federal jurists. “The Judges, both of the supreme and inferior Courts, shall hold their Offices during good Behaviour,” the parchment states. It’s no surprise that the constitutional watchdogs at the New Civil Liberties Alliance, founded by Columbia Law’s Philip Hamburger, are taking up Judge Newman’s cause at the high court. “Other judges who are watching what is happening to Judge Newman can only wonder if a similar fate will befall them if they fail to stay on the good side of their chief judge,” says the jurist’s petition to the Supreme Court, which has not yet decided if it will hear the case. “Effectively removing an Article III judge from all functions of her office is unconstitutional,” the alliance argues, and “violates the Disability Act.” That’s the legal fig leaf that Judge Newman’s colleagues used to bar her from hearing new cases. Yet the alliance avers that the statute “permits administrative suspensions, but only a time-limited suspension with a definite end-date,” and it “explicitly forbids removing a judge from office.” If there’s a case to be made for removing Judge Newman, or any other federal jurist, the Constitution ordains impeachment as the proper remedy. The fate of Judge Newman is all the more freighted in light of the increasingly older skew of America’s elected leaders and the federal bench. That’s partly a function of improvements in medicine and a rising national life span. As of 2024, the average age of a federal judge was just shy of 68. That marks an increase from 64 in 1960, 59 in 1920, and 57 in 1840. The Sun’s view is that 75 should be the minimum age to serve on the Supreme Court.Judge Newman has suggested that her colleagues on the Federal Circuit had sought to oust her from the bench in order to give President Biden a chance to name her replacement, our Dean Karayanis reported. “I was told, ‘Just go quietly,’” Judge Newman said, “‘or we will make your life miserable.’” Life tenure for federal judges is meant to prevent such malfeasance. It’s hard to argue with The Great Dissenter’s appraisal that “the nation needs my voice.”

Federal Judges’ Life Tenure at Stake in Supreme Court Dispute

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