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.
“Life appointments” should really only extend to something like age 75, with yearly mental fitness tests after the social security age.
she was asked to undergo medical fitness test but refused
This is proof enough of senility.
(in context and in my opinion).
The lady doth protest too much, methinks
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!
Just link it to the legal retirement age.