In
High
Demand
(Photo
by
Bill
O’Leary/The
Washington
Post
via
Getty
Images)
It
is
an
understatement
to
say
that
Pauline
Newman
is
highly
recognized
as
being
good
at
her
job.
So
good
in
fact,
one
patent-pursuing
litigant
argues,
that
her
absence
from
the
court
means
that
he
didn’t
get
a
fair
shake
at
arguing
his
case.
An
application
of
the
Alice
test
determined
that
his
idea
was
too
abstract
to
be
patentable,
but
he’s
pushing
back
on
the
use
of
that
test.
Know
who
else
has
voiced
concern
over
Alice?
That’s
right,
Newman!
And
he’s
asking
the
Supreme
Court
to
make
sure
she’s
on
the
panel
so
that
she
can
weigh
in.
Bloomberg
Law
has
coverage:
The
owner
of
an
invalidated
background-check
software
patent
urged
the
US
Supreme
Court
to
consider
the
Federal
Circuit’s
suspension
of
97-year-old
Judge
Pauline
Newman,
whose
absence
on
the
court
the
company
says
deprived
it
of
a
potentially
sympathetic
ear.
…
Miller
Mendel
was
robbed
of
“even
having
a
chance
that
the
most
experienced
appellate
patent
judge,
and
one
of
the
harshest
critics
of
Section
101
jurisprudence,
could
participate,
hear,
and
rule
on
the
case,”
the
company
wrote
in
a
petition
to
the
high
court
docketed
Oct.
18.
Suing
over
loss
of
chance
isn’t
unheard
of
—
it
is
an
action
in
tort
—
but
suing
because
you
didn’t
have
the
judge
you
wanted
on
your
panel
feels
suspect.
That
said,
it
puts
the
U.S.
Court
of
Appeals
for
the
Federal
Circuit
in
a
strange
position.
Far
from
the
initial
worry
that
Justice
Moore
&
Co.’s
now
objectively
disproven
accusations
that
Judge
Newman
was
mentally
unfit
to
serve
on
the
court
would
harm
her
legacy,
we
now
have
the
worth
of
the
court
being
questioned
if
she’s
not
a
part
of
it.
Even
if
the
panel
included
Newman
and
decided
against
Mendel,
Newman’s
potential
dissent
could
still
be
valuable
in
the
long
run
considering
how
often
the
Supreme
Court
ultimately
agrees
with
her
take
on
matters.
If
you’d
like
to
follow
up
on
the
case,
it
is
Miller
Mendel
Inc.
v.
City
of
Anna,
U.S.,
24-439,
cert.
petition
docketed
10/18/24.
Patent
Owner
Flags
Judge
Newman’s
Suspension
to
Supreme
Court
[Bloomberg
Law]
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™
in
the
Facebook
group Law
School
Memes
for
Edgy
T14s.
He
endured
Missouri
long
enough
to
graduate
from
Washington
University
in
St.
Louis
School
of
Law.
He
is
a
former
boatbuilder
who
cannot
swim, a
published
author
on
critical
race
theory,
philosophy,
and
humor,
and
has
a
love
for
cycling
that
occasionally
annoys
his
peers.
You
can
reach
him
by
email
at [email protected] and
by
tweet
at @WritesForRent.