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Pauline Newman Speaks At Vaccine Law Conference

The disciplinary committee's assessment does't seem to be aging well.

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Pauline Newman, a 95-year-old judge on the U.S. Court Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, in her office on May 03 in Washington, DC.

(Photo by Bill O’Leary/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

For all the heat about physical fitness and mental fortitude Pauline Newman has been getting, you’d expect for her public appearances to go the way of Glitch McConnell. Far from it; Judge Newman’s most recent display at a conference on vaccines looks far more in line with her doctor’s evaluation than Kimberly Moore’s. From Reuters:

Pauline Newman … spoke at a Washington, D.C. conference on Friday to urge more scrutiny into how patent law could affect the development of vaccines and other groundbreaking technologies.

“We must understand not just how the present law applies, but also to understand if it’s anything less than optimum, it’s in our hands,” Newman, the longest-serving member of the patent-focused U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, said during the panel discussion on vaccine law at George Washington University.

She’s been consistent on this front — her dissenting opinions have spoken to a worry that contemporary patent eligibility has “become so diverse and unpredictable as to have a serious effect on the innovation incentive in all fields of technology.”

As far as I’m aware, this is the second time that a Newman appearance showed that she’s more than capable of thinking and acting on her own — there’s this and the extended Washington Post interview that in passing mentions how well organized she was. Seems mentally fit to me.

It really does seem like there are bigger fish to fry when it comes to the state of the judiciary, like James Ho’s seeking the Good Book for guidance instead of a dictionary, or various Supreme Court justices’ ethical scandals.

Embattled US Appeals Judge Takes Stage At Vaccine Law Conference [Reuters]

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Earlier: A Lifetime-Appointed Judge Was Accused Of Not Being Able To Do Her Job. She Brought Receipts.
Pauline Newman’s Dissents Get More Attention Than Her Coworkers Making Up Medical Conditions About Her

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 boatbuilder who cannot swim, a published author on critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at cwilliams@abovethelaw.com and by tweet at @WritesForRent.

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