Pauline Newman

Pauline Newman is an American lawyer and jurist who has served as a judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit since 1984. Born in New York City in 1927, she trained as a chemist, earning a doctorate at Yale in 1952 and working as a research scientist before taking a law degree at New York University in 1958. She then worked for decades as a patent attorney and director of the patent, trademark and licensing department at FMC Corporation, and sat on a presidential committee that helped create the Federal Circuit. She was the first judge appointed directly to that court and became known for patent dissents that later shaped the law. In 2023 the court suspended her from hearing cases over questions about her capacity, which she disputes.