by
Bill
O’Leary/The
Washington
Post
via
Getty
Images)
It
is
easy
to
think
about
Judge
Pauline
Newman’s
ongoing
shadow
impeachment
as
a
one-off
event.
In
many
ways
it
is
—
thankfully,
there
is
no
long
string
of
courts
fabricating
heart
attacks
and
diminished
brain
capacity
claims
to
boot
a
colleague
off
the
court
—
but
if
it
can
happen
to
one
high-profile
federal
judge,
what
prevents
it
from
happening
to
the
next?
Judges
are
generally
left
to
police
themselves,
but
the
glaring
due
process
issues
that
rose
from
the
U.S.
Court
of
Appeals
for
the
Federal
Circuit’s
treatment
of
Newman
could
use
the
Supreme
Court
stepping
in.
Hoping
for
clarity
on
the
process
judges
should
be
able
to
rely
on
if
their
colleagues
decide
on
their
early
retirement
despite
good
behavior,
law
clerks
and
judges
wrote
to
the
Supreme
Court.
Law.com
has
coverage:
Former
law
clerks
and
retired
judges
have
urged
the
U.S.
Supreme
Court
to
review
U.S.
Court
of
Appeals
for
the
Federal
Circuit
Judge
Pauline
Newman’s
failed,
long-running
challenge
to
her
suspension
over
mental
fitness
concerns.Newman’s
former
clerks
and
the
colleagues
on
the
bench
submitted
amicus
briefs
asking
the
justices
to
reconsider
a
D.C.
Circuit’s
ruling
from
last
year
that
the
98-year-old
could
not
challenge
her
indefinite
suspension
as
unconstitutional
in
court.“Amici
are
concerned
that
permitting
misconduct
of
the
sort
alleged
here
to
proceed
unchecked
and
unexamined
by
the
federal
courts
poses
a
grave
threat
to
the
independence
of
all
federal
judges,
particularly
the
50%
of
judges
who
are
68
or
older,”
the
brief,
submitted
by
Virginia
attorney
Richard
A.
Samp,
contends.
One
quirk
of
being
a
federal
judge
is
that
they
are
not
protected
by
the
Americans
with
Disabilities
Act.
If
that
were
the
case,
things
may
have
centered
on
what
accommodations,
if
any,
Newman
would
have
needed
to
continue
doing
her
job.
It
doesn’t
seem
like
said
accommodations
would
have
been
substantial
—
the
Supreme
Court
affirmed
one
of
her
dissents
during
her
apparent
mental
illness
problems.
As
things
are,
the
number
of
judges
leaving
because
of
the
disability
path
seems
to
be
growing:
The
retired
judges
also
sounded
a
broader
alarm
about
judicial
independence,
warning
that
misconduct
complaints
under
the
Judicial
Conduct
and
Disability
Act
have
become
“an
increasingly
common
method”
by
which
a
judge’s
antagonists
can
“circumvent
the
constitutionally
prescribed
impeachment
process.”
Judges
could
really
use
some
guidance.
Limbo
isn’t
a
great
place
to
be
left
in.
Dissents
have
taken
a
noticeable
drop
since
Newman’s
shadow
impeachment.
While
there’s
no
clear
causality,
it
is
an
open
question
if
the
drop
in
dissenting
is
because
the
realization
that
you
could
be
kicked
for
stepping
out
of
line
has
chilled
judges
from
sharing
their
opinions.
‘Grave
Threat’:
Ex-Clerks,
Judges
Urge
Supreme
Court
to Review Newman’s
Suspension
[Law.com]
Earlier:
Federal
Circuit
Dissents
Plummet
After
Pauline
Newman’s
Ersatz
Impeachment
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
boat
builder
who
is
learning
to
swim
and
is
interested
in
rhetoric,
Spinozists
and
humor.
Getting
back
in
to
cycling
wouldn’t
hurt
either.
You
can
reach
him
by
email
at
[email protected]
and
by
Tweet/Bluesky
at @WritesForRent.