Rader to Step Down as Chief

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Judge Rader will step down next week as Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.  

The stated reason is ... strange. 

Earlier this year, Randall R. Rader, the chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit—one of the nation's highest federal courts—sent a laudatory email to Edward Reines, a patent lawyer at Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP in Silicon Valley, said people familiar with the matter.

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In the email, Judge Rader said he and other court colleagues had been impressed by Mr. Reines's skill as an appellate lawyer, according to people familiar with the details of the judge's note. The judge encouraged the lawyer to share the endorsement with others, a tool that could be used to impress clients, people familiar with the matter said. 

I'm not sure what to make of this.  I can't say that I see anything wrong with a judge complimenting an attorney on his courtroom skills.  I've been fortunate enough to be on the receiving end of a couple of compliments like that.  If it's OK for a judge to compliment an attorney in open court, it's hard to argue that putting something like that in an email crosses any lines.

Now, for the judge to encourage the attorney, in that same message, to "share the endorsement with others" as the story suggests is a bit odd.  Unethical?  I don't know.  I can't help but wonder if there isn't more to the story than we've heard so far.  Because this is not enough, so far, that I can see how it's forcing Rader to step down.