26 Facts About Pauline Newman

Pauline Newman was born on June 20,1927 and is an American lawyer and jurist formally serving as a US Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

Pauline Newman has been suspended from her duties since September 2023.

Pauline Newman received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Vassar College in 1947, with a double major in chemistry and philosophy, followed by a Master of Arts from Columbia University in 1948.

Pauline Newman "sought to be a physician, but changed her mind", receiving a Doctor of Philosophy degree in chemistry from Yale University in 1952.

Pauline Newman worked as a research scientist for American Cyanamid from 1951 to 1954, during which time she was issued patents for "colorful, dirt-resistant synthetic fabric she helped invent".

Later in 1954, Pauline Newman returned to the United States and started working for FMC Corp.

From 1961 to 1962 Pauline Newman worked for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization as a science policy specialist in the Department of Natural Resources.

Pauline Newman served on the State Department Advisory Committee on International Intellectual Property from 1974 to 1984 and on the advisory committee to the Domestic Policy Review of Industrial Innovation from 1978 to 1979.

Over her career, Pauline Newman has received honors including the Wilbur Cross Medal of Yale University Graduate School, and the Award for Outstanding Contributions to International Cooperation from the Pacific Industrial Property Association.

In 1982, while serving on a presidential committee on industrial stagnation for President Ronald Reagan, Pauline Newman helped create the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

Pauline Newman has been a "Distinguished Professor of Law" as an adjunct professor at the George Mason University School of Law.

Pauline Newman was confirmed by the United States Senate on February 27,1984, and received her commission the following day.

Pauline Newman thus became the first judge appointed directly to the Federal Circuit, all of her predecessors having come to the court through the merger of the Court of Customs and Patent Appeals and the appellate division of the United States Court of Federal Claims.

Pauline Newman was the only judge on the Federal Circuit who did not previously serve on a lower court.

In 2013, Pauline Newman was honored by NYU Law Women as their law alumna of the year.

That same year, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg praised Pauline Newman for inspiring women with "her intelligence, her diligence, her devotion to a very difficult area of the law".

In remarks published in 2023, Federal Circuit Chief Judge Moore said that "there can be no doubt that Judge Pauline Newman is the heroine of the patent system".

In September 2023, Pauline Newman spoke at the National Vaccine Law Conference at George Washington University, advocating greater consideration of the effect of patent law on the advancement of technologies like vaccines, stating that "we must understand not just how the present law applies, but to understand if it's anything less than optimum, it's in our hands".

Pauline Newman has written many important opinions about law of patents in the United States.

The initial report by Gene Quinn for IPWatchdog noted that "Pauline Newman has filed dissenting opinions in at least two recent cases that show no signs she is suffering from any disability", stating that these were "classic Pauline Newman dissents, do not read as if they were written by law clerks, and do not show signs of decline or disability".

Quinn questioned why Pauline Newman would have been offered an opportunity to assume senior status, and continue hearing cases in that status, if there were questions about her competence to hear cases at all.

The filing noted that Pauline Newman had been given "only a few days to comply with requests for mental evaluations and her private medical records".

On September 20,2023, Pauline Newman was suspended by the Federal Circuit's Judicial Council from hearing new cases for one year.

Pauline Newman is expected to appeal on constitutional grounds, with Professor Hellman noting that "it is the functional equivalent of removing the judge from office".

On September 6,2024, the suspension was extended for another year, with the explanation that the suspension would be renewed if Pauline Newman continued to defy the court's orders.

In late August 2024, Pauline Newman received imaging and a neurological exam by a neurosurgeon who is an attorney.