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.

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[–] 88 points 3 years ago (10 children)

America in general seems to have a massive problem with absolute geriatrics refusing to make way for the next generation. Their politicians, lawmakers, judges, all older than the hills.

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  • [–] 32 points 3 years ago (4 children)

    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.

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  • [–] 9 points 3 years ago (2 children)

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

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  • [–] 11 points 3 years ago (2 children)

    We really do. The millennials need to step up. I'm finishing my degree and am considering a post bachelorette in political science or something similar to get into politics. It's frustrating to see such an aged population making decisions they won't have to live with.

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  • [–] 6 points 3 years ago*

    Some of those people either can't afford to retire or have actually returned to the workforce due to a combination of inflation, inadequate safety nets, and the fact that 401ks have not filled the gap created when companies stopped providing pensions.

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  • [–] 84 points 3 years ago (6 children)

    Why aren't we more suspicious of the personality type that wants to work til they die at their post?

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  • [+] -37 points 3 years ago (5 children)

    Sounds like you are very suspicious and so are others or this wouldn't be a debate worth posting about.

    I guess the idea that some people love their work, live for it and derive huge satisfaction from it is a really unusual concept 🤷

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  • [–] 21 points 3 years ago

    Do you honestly think she's doing some kind of serious, fulfilling legal work at 90-goddamn-6? I'd be more willing to bet she's got an army of clerks and assistants doing the heavy lifting and she spends her afternoon signing things in between pudding cups.

    I don't for a second believe she's sitting on that bench for the love of the game. I'd bet anything she just doesn't want Biden appointing a successor.

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  • [–] 66 points 3 years ago (5 children)

    "Life appointments" should really only extend to something like age 75, with yearly mental fitness tests after the social security age.

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  • [–] 18 points 3 years ago

    I agree with it except for the mental fitness test.

    Tests like that is only going to be used as political fodder.

    Just set it at an age. You get to finish out the year's session after you turn 70 but after that, you aren't qualified. Go enjoy your life!

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  • [–] 52 points 3 years ago

    Sounds like she has a problem being judged by others I don't believe it a coincidence.

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  • [–] 35 points 3 years ago* (last edited 3 years ago) (1 child)

    I do not understand why someone in their dang 90s does not retire. Spend your days like my great-grandma did before she passed: time with your family and drinking whiskey on your porch.

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  • [–] 22 points 3 years ago

    Money combined with low stress tasks, probably.

    You can imagine the kind of tasks and stress she has that she can allow herself to work until 96.

    You think a person in retail, engineering or whatever low to middle income position would want to work until 96?

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  • [–] 30 points 3 years ago

    96.. let that sink in. Way too old to making any legal decisions.

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  • [–] 28 points 3 years ago

    96?! Just go home already.

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  • [–] 22 points 3 years ago

    She belongs in a museum. Jfc GTFO you dinosaur.

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  • [–] 14 points 3 years ago* (last edited 3 years ago)

    I see what they're doing. Stress her out enough to kill her. Classic.

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