A 96-year-old U.S. federal appeals court judge was barred Wednesday from hearing cases for a year after a panel said she refused to undergo medical testing amid concerns that she is no longer mentally fit to serve on the bench.

It’s the latest development in an unusually public and bitter fight over whether Judge Pauline Newman should continue to serve on the Washington-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit that has sparked a lawsuit and turned judges against one another.

Newman, a President Ronald Reagan appointee who has been on the court for nearly four decades, insists that she remains physically and mentally fit to decide matters of the law, and has accused her colleagues of making baseless claims in an effort to push her out because of her age.

  • Fisk400@feddit.nu
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    1 year ago

    It’s because the system for choosing successors are bad and random. If she quits now her successor will be a Biden appointee and she doesn’t want that. If they set a retirement age and regularly had roundups where each party gets to choose judges based on number of seats they have things would be a lot more shill.

    That is if republicans honestly engaged with the systems. We know they don’t which is why nothing will ever work.

    • Ilovethebomb@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      OK, that explains a lot actually. Do you think she’ll try and hold on another four years if Biden gets reelected?

      • Fisk400@feddit.nu
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        1 year ago

        Lets see if she can hold on until the election. at 96 you shouldn’t bet on them being around for another month. she will try to hold on for as long as possible but the grim reaper generally dont care about your schedule.