Federal judges are getting older - and more senile.

[kas125]

The Oldest Bench Ever
Extreme aging in the federal judiciary—and the trouble it causes.
By Joseph Goldstein

Judge Richard Owen of the U.S. District Court in Manhattan gathered a group of lawyers in his courtroom in 2007 to discuss the possible leak of sealed documents in a business case. As the hearing got under way, Owen, then 84, asked for someone to explain this newfangled mode of communication the lawyers kept mentioning—e-mail. "It pops up in a machine in some administrative office, and is somebody there with a duty to take it around and give it to whoever it's named to?" he asked.

Some of the lawyers figured that Owen, whose chambers came with a mimeograph machine when he became a judge in 1973, was just behind the times. Others wondered if the judge's memory was failing him. After all, the most famous case in his long career—the back-to-back trials of Silicon Valley investment banker Frank Quattrone—had revolved around a single e-mail. Yet he now acted as though this was the first he was hearing about it. "He didn't understand what was happening in his own courtroom," said one lawyer present that day.

<snip>

Sometimes the problem isn't as clear-cut as forgetfulness—a failing that, after all, is relatively easy to recognize. Attorneys say J. Thomas Greene, a U.S. district judge in Utah, seemed to grow more impulsive with age, a common sign that the brain's ability to self-censor is eroding. In 2006, Greene, then 76, presided over the trial of a man charged with lying about the disappearance of a teenage girl. At a proceeding to pick a jury, the judge asked prospective jurors whether they were acquainted, a question meant to keep friends from serving on the same panel. One man answered that he knew one of the other potential jurors, a woman. "I didn't recognize you," the woman exclaimed.

"She didn't recognize you with your clothes on," Greene shot back, shocking the courtroom.

the rest of the article is at:
http://www.slate.com/id/2281318/

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As the sole caretaker of my 82 year old father, it truly frightens me that people his age are deciding people's futures.

[former9thward]

1. There should be mandatory retirement at age 70.

The Presiding judge in a federal judicial District should be able to appoint those on retirement to fill short term needs and vacancies. That way s/he could pick those judges who still were capable and let the others enjoy their retirement.

[Citizen Worker]

2. It can happen earlier than the age of 70. In December 2000 and after the US Supreme Court had

appointed Bush I was attending an annual Christmas get together with my extended family. The father, a retired nuclear physicist, had written a letter to the Bush transition team on energy policy and he was most anxious for me to read it. The three page letter was absolute gibberish and I remember thinking, this man is a well educated scientist and this letter is pure nonsense. It simply didn't make any sense in what it said or in the way it was put together. Seven years later he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. He was 77 years old at the time of diagnosis.

[former9thward]

3. Oh, sure it can.

But just like with driving, drinking, voting and all sorts of other things you have to draw an age line somewhere. I think 70 would be reasonable.

[Demeter]

4. A proper assessment Would Be More Useful and Less Arbitrary

Unless the goal is to force retirement so that the younger folk can get a job...

[former9thward]

5. As someone who is in the field assessment of judges would be impossible.

What is proper? Who is to make the judgment? There would be accusations of politics no matter what the verdict.

[Demeter]

6. Assessment of Mental Faculties for the elder folk

in any field of work.

[shrike]

7. It's funny, the most "with it" older person I've ever met worked as a carpenter all his life

He was a WWII vet, in his 90s, and talking to him was like talking to a man in his 40s. I've since read that this is not that uncommon for people who work in that profession; something to do with how it affects the brain.

OTOH, the other day at the gym I met a 78-year-old woman who was in better shape than most women half her age. She pumps iron, does Zumba. Some of the teenagers I know would love to have her figure. However, as she very sadly told me, all of that activity had not pushed back the inevitable decline of her mental faculties. She was sharp enough, but still struggled with forgetfulness, all the usual problems of aging, she told me.

[Hestia]

9. I work with seniors at a geriatric clinic, and it is inevitable. Starting around age 50, your memory

does start to decline, though your focus is sharper. It's been sad to see the decline of one woman, 3 years ago she was sharp as a tack, now she is easily confused. I've had other seniors tell me the biggest surprise of aging is memory decline and no one prepared them for it. Has the best thing in the world been to get people to live to 80s, 90s & 100s with acute memory loss? Does this really behoove us as a society? What have we gained?

[Paladin]

8. This Is What Law Clerks Are For...... (n/t)