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Is Judge Pauline Newman Entitled to Her Day in Court?

Her cert petition to the Supreme Court presents the important jurisdictional question of whether the Judicial Disability Act bars all judicial review of a decision by her fellow judges to remove her from active service.

Paul Cassell | 3.12.2026 7:43 PM

Josh Blackman, Jonathan Adler, and I have all previously blogged (here, here, and here) about issues relating to the "stealth impeachment" of Judge Pauline Newman of the Federal Circuit. Judge Newman has been removed from active service on the court by fellow judges on her Circuit. Judge Newman challenged the removal. But the D.C. Circuit held that the Judicial Council's Reform and Judicial Conduct and Disability Act of 1980 blocks any review of the lawfulness of this action. Today's cert petition by Judge Newman presents the important jurisdictional question of whether she is entitled to her day in court to challenge the removal. Her petition begins with this powerful introduction:

This petition presents questions concerning crucial constitutional and statutory aspects of lifetime tenure and judicial independence, especially the availability of judicial review for intra-branch infringements on judicial service. These questions affect the very independence of Article III courts and potentially affect every member of the federal judiciary and every litigant who appears before them. For three years the Federal Circuit has been operating short-handed because the judges of that court have summarily removed its........

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