{"id":145384,"date":"2026-03-04T16:08:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T00:08:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/03\/04\/federal-circuit-dissents-plummet-after-pauline-newmans-ersatz-impeachment\/"},"modified":"2026-03-04T16:08:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T00:08:12","slug":"federal-circuit-dissents-plummet-after-pauline-newmans-ersatz-impeachment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/03\/04\/federal-circuit-dissents-plummet-after-pauline-newmans-ersatz-impeachment\/","title":{"rendered":"Federal Circuit Dissents Plummet After Pauline Newman\u2019s Ersatz Impeachment"},"content":{"rendered":"

Court cases are usually remembered for their holdings. That\u2019s a no brainer; majority opinions are what determine things like damages, why X person faces Y consequence(s), and which legal arguments are worth going for. But important work can happen in dissents too. When judges aren\u2019t using them to audition for the next vacant Supreme Court seat<\/a>, dissenting opinions can show posterity that the judiciary is not a unified mind. Justice Taney\u2019s dissent in Dred Scott v. Sanford<\/em> lives in infamy as an example of how racial schematization can impact legal decision making and access to Constitutional protections, as did Harlan\u2019s dissent in Plessy v. Ferguson<\/em>. Dissents make it easier to note when legal outcomes are explained by party lines or even, which is far more interesting in a case like Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump<\/a><\/em>, confuddled by them \u2014 one of the unexpected highlights to come out of that case was Gorsuch\u2019s analysis of the jurisprudential flip-flopping <\/a>on both sides of the decision.<\/p>\n

Pauline Newman has been a force of nature in the recent dissent landscape. She\u2019s been on the dissenting side of her panels hundreds of times and, almost as imported, vindicated by time. As she fought her panel\u2019s accusations that she was no longer mentally fit to do her job (she dissented from that judgment too), the Supreme Court affirmed one of her dissenting opinions<\/a>. If her thinking is so apparently faulty, where does that leave them? I digress.<\/p>\n

Since the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit decided to circumvent the constitutionally required process of impeaching Judge Newman \u2014 opting instead to blame disproven heart attacks, alleged mental incompetency, and angels dancing on the heads of pins<\/a> as justifications for why she couldn\u2019t do her job \u2014 the number of dissents on the Federal Circuit has dropped off. Patently-O<\/a> has coverage:<\/p>\n

\n

[N]ewman\u2019s voice of disagreement defined the Federal Circuit\u2019s internal dialogue on patent law. An empirical analysis of almost 5,000 precedential Federal Circuit opinions issued between 2004 and early 2026 reveals just how dramatically this one judge shaped the court\u2019s culture. We now have two full calendar years of post-Newman data, and the results are striking: in 2024 and 2025, the court\u2019s dissent rate fell dramatically. The Federal Circuit has become, in the space of two years, one of the most consensus-oriented appellate courts in the federal system.<\/p>\n

\u2026
[T]he magnitude of the effect is actually much greater than what can be accounted for from Newman\u2019s direct impact on panel opinions\u2026the court\u2019s dissent rate has fallen not just by the amount attributable to Newman\u2019s own dissents, but to roughly half the historical baseline of even non-Newman panels\u2014suggesting her departure transformed the court\u2019s broader culture of disagreement.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

What\u2019s the explanation? Have the cases before panels just been abnormally easy to decide over the last two years? Or has the high profile strong-arming out of a nay-saying judge encouraged would-be dissenters to hold their tongues?<\/p>\n

I really do think that one of the biggest blunders that news sites have done in their coverage of Newman\u2019s ordeal is focus on her age. It makes it much easier to ignore that the underlying justifications for her removal have little to do with that. If the Circuit successfully moves the goalpost of impeachment from Congress voting to \u201cWe deem this judge to be disabled,\u201d the job security of all federal judges shifts from the slightly vague \u201cgood behavior\u201d to the much more fraught standard of \u201cnot too disabled.\u201d The Circuit already got caught lying about Newman\u2019s medical history<\/a>. What prevents a panel of judges from punishing a disagreeable colleague by accusing them of suffering a COVID infection that irrevocably damaged their thinking processes? That\u2019s a little far fetched because it would require people to acknowledge that COVID is still a real and incapacitating threat<\/a>, but use your imagination. The good behavior standard isn\u2019t perfect, but it has to be better than popularity and agreeability determining the career length of circuit judges. The judiciary brags about policing itself, but there have to be limits.<\/p>\n

Has the Newman case made it less likely for you to dissent from your colleagues? Let us know at tips@abovethelaw.com. <\/p>\n

Federal Circuit Dissent Rates Collapse After Newman\u2019s Removal <\/a>[Patentlyo]<\/p>\n

Earlier<\/strong>: D.C. Circuit Judge Panel Uses Pauline Newman Oral Argument To Flesh Out Advisory Opinion On Comatose Judges<\/a><\/p>\n

Pauline Newman\u2019s Dissents Get More Attention Than Her Coworkers Making Up Medical Conditions About Her<\/a><\/p>\n

Huge Development In Pauline Newman\u2019s Case: The Test Results Are In!<\/a><\/p>\n

A Lifetime-Appointed Judge Was Accused Of Not Being Able To Do Her Job. She Brought Receipts.<\/a><\/p>\n

\n
\"\"
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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\u2122 in the Facebook group\u00a0Law School Memes for Edgy T14s . \u00a0He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boat builder who is learning to swim and is interested in rhetoric, Spinozists and humor. Getting back in to cycling wouldn\u2019t hurt either. You can reach him by email at\u00a0cwilliams@abovethelaw.com <\/a>and by tweet at\u00a0@WritesForRent<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Federal Circuit Dissents Plummet After Pauline Newman\u2019s Ersatz Impeachment<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Court cases are usually remembered for their holdings. That\u2019s a no brainer; majority opinions are what determine things like damages, why X person faces Y consequence(s), and which legal arguments are worth going for. But important work can happen in dissents too. When judges aren\u2019t using them to audition for the next vacant Supreme Court seat<\/a>, dissenting opinions can show posterity that the judiciary is not a unified mind. Justice Taney\u2019s dissent in Dred Scott v. Sanford<\/em> lives in infamy as an example of how racial schematization can impact legal decision making and access to Constitutional protections, as did Harlan\u2019s dissent in Plessy v. Ferguson<\/em>. Dissents make it easier to note when legal outcomes are explained by party lines or even, which is far more interesting in a case like Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump<\/a><\/em>, confuddled by them \u2014 one of the unexpected highlights to come out of that case was Gorsuch\u2019s analysis of the jurisprudential flip-flopping <\/a>on both sides of the decision.<\/p>\n

Pauline Newman has been a force of nature in the recent dissent landscape. She\u2019s been on the dissenting side of her panels hundreds of times and, almost as imported, vindicated by time. As she fought her panel\u2019s accusations that she was no longer mentally fit to do her job (she dissented from that judgment too), the Supreme Court affirmed one of her dissenting opinions<\/a>. If her thinking is so apparently faulty, where does that leave them? I digress.<\/p>\n

Since the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit decided to circumvent the constitutionally required process of impeaching Judge Newman \u2014 opting instead to blame disproven heart attacks, alleged mental incompetency, and angels dancing on the heads of pins<\/a> as justifications for why she couldn\u2019t do her job \u2014 the number of dissents on the Federal Circuit has dropped off. Patently-O<\/a> has coverage:<\/p>\n

\n

[N]ewman\u2019s voice of disagreement defined the Federal Circuit\u2019s internal dialogue on patent law. An empirical analysis of almost 5,000 precedential Federal Circuit opinions issued between 2004 and early 2026 reveals just how dramatically this one judge shaped the court\u2019s culture. We now have two full calendar years of post-Newman data, and the results are striking: in 2024 and 2025, the court\u2019s dissent rate fell dramatically. The Federal Circuit has become, in the space of two years, one of the most consensus-oriented appellate courts in the federal system.<\/p>\n

\u2026
[T]he magnitude of the effect is actually much greater than what can be accounted for from Newman\u2019s direct impact on panel opinions\u2026the court\u2019s dissent rate has fallen not just by the amount attributable to Newman\u2019s own dissents, but to roughly half the historical baseline of even non-Newman panels\u2014suggesting her departure transformed the court\u2019s broader culture of disagreement.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

What\u2019s the explanation? Have the cases before panels just been abnormally easy to decide over the last two years? Or has the high profile strong-arming out of a nay-saying judge encouraged would-be dissenters to hold their tongues?<\/p>\n

I really do think that one of the biggest blunders that news sites have done in their coverage of Newman\u2019s ordeal is focus on her age. It makes it much easier to ignore that the underlying justifications for her removal have little to do with that. If the Circuit successfully moves the goalpost of impeachment from Congress voting to \u201cWe deem this judge to be disabled,\u201d the job security of all federal judges shifts from the slightly vague \u201cgood behavior\u201d to the much more fraught standard of \u201cnot too disabled.\u201d The Circuit already got caught lying about Newman\u2019s medical history<\/a>. What prevents a panel of judges from punishing a disagreeable colleague by accusing them of suffering a COVID infection that irrevocably damaged their thinking processes? That\u2019s a little far fetched because it would require people to acknowledge that COVID is still a real and incapacitating threat<\/a>, but use your imagination. The good behavior standard isn\u2019t perfect, but it has to be better than popularity and agreeability determining the career length of circuit judges. The judiciary brags about policing itself, but there have to be limits.<\/p>\n

Has the Newman case made it less likely for you to dissent from your colleagues? Let us know at tips@abovethelaw.com. <\/p>\n

Federal Circuit Dissent Rates Collapse After Newman\u2019s Removal <\/a>[Patentlyo]<\/p>\n

Earlier<\/strong>: D.C. Circuit Judge Panel Uses Pauline Newman Oral Argument To Flesh Out Advisory Opinion On Comatose Judges<\/a><\/p>\n

Pauline Newman\u2019s Dissents Get More Attention Than Her Coworkers Making Up Medical Conditions About Her<\/a><\/p>\n

Huge Development In Pauline Newman\u2019s Case: The Test Results Are In!<\/a><\/p>\n

A Lifetime-Appointed Judge Was Accused Of Not Being Able To Do Her Job. She Brought Receipts.<\/a><\/p>\n

\n
\"\"
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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\u2122 in the Facebook group\u00a0Law School Memes for Edgy T14s . \u00a0He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boat builder who is learning to swim and is interested in rhetoric, Spinozists and humor. Getting back in to cycling wouldn\u2019t hurt either. You can reach him by email at\u00a0cwilliams@abovethelaw.com <\/a>and by tweet at\u00a0@WritesForRent<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Federal Circuit Dissents Plummet After Pauline Newman\u2019s Ersatz Impeachment<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Court cases are usually remembered for their holdings. That\u2019s a no brainer; majority opinions are what determine things like damages, why X person faces Y consequence(s), and which legal arguments are worth going for. But important work can happen in dissents too. When judges aren\u2019t using them to audition for the next vacant Supreme Court […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":145385,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-145384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Chris-Williams-2025-WNCP6h.jpg?fit=512%2C288&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145384"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145384\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}