Congress eyes overhaul to judicial conduct laws

Rep. Scott Fitzgerald introduced a bill to overhaul the 1980 Judicial Conduct and Disability Act, aiming to cap temporary judicial suspensions at two years after 99-year-old Federal Circuit Judge Pauline Newman has been barred from hearing cases for more than three years amid a disability investigation.

Newman was suspended in 2023 after refusing a court-ordered neurological exam; the Supreme Court declined to hear her appeal in June. Fitzgerald's bill would also let judges challenge suspensions on constitutional grounds, set recusal standards for judicial review councils, and allow misconduct cases to be transferred out of a judge's home circuit.

The bill has drawn endorsement from Fix the Court, whose director Gabe Roth called it a ‘valuable contribution to judicial accountability,’ also noting it could address gaps exposed by a separate misconduct case involving U.S. District Judge Eleanor Ross, who reportedly had sex with a police officer in her chambers and made false statements to investigators.

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