A 96-year-old federal judge is barred from hearing cases in a bitter fight over her mental fitness

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A 96-year-old federal judge is barred from hearing cases in a bitter fight over her mental fitness
apnews.com

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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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.

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.

She's 96. She should have retired when Bush was president of that was her concern.

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

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.

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.

Baccalaureate?

Damn autocorrect.. yea. I'm going to leave it because I deserve that.

Mitt Romney just stepped down, citing that very reason. The U.K. has a freaking House of Lords and a Monarch that serves no purpose. Don’t throw stones.

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.