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Newman, who is 95, said in her complaint that the probe violated
her constitutional rights, and she denied that there were
legitimate concerns about her mental and physical capacity.
The judge asked the district court to halt or transfer the
investigation.
An attorney for Newman said the complaint "speaks for itself."
Representatives for the Washington D.C.-based Federal Circuit
did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Newman, a leading intellectual property law jurist, was
appointed by Republican President Ronald Reagan in 1984 to the
patent law-focused Federal Circuit, which often hears major
cases involving technology and pharmaceutical companies.
An order by Federal Circuit Chief Judge Kimberly Moore that was
made public last month said a three-judge committee had
determined that Newman may "suffer a disability that interferes
with her ability to perform the responsibilities of her office,"
and that she had refused a medical evaluation.
Newman's lawsuit claimed that the orders justifying the probe
were "riddled with errors," describing as false an assertion
that she was hospitalized after having a heart attack in 2021.
She said that she served on more appeals panels than most of her
colleagues and issued at least eight opinions that summer, and
that her productivity has not dropped over the past three years.
The complaint said the committee investigating her gave her only
a few days to comply with requests for mental evaluations and
her private medical records, which she called a "baseless
invasion" of her privacy.
(Reporting by Blake Brittain in Washington; Editing by David
Bario & Simon Cameron-Moore)
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