Judge Wynn Reverses Retirement Plans, Denies Trump Vacancy (2)

Fourth Circuit Judge James Wynn Jr. has rescinded his plans to step down from active status, denying President-elect Donald Trump the opportunity to appoint his successor on the powerful appellate bench.

“After careful consideration, I have decided to continue in active regular service,” Wynn wrote in a letter to President Joe Biden made public Saturday by Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.). “I apologize for any inconvenience I may have caused.”

It comes after the White House announced Thursday that Biden’s intended successor for the seat, North Carolina Solicitor General Ryan Park, withdrew his nomination.

Park was one of four circuit court nominees denied floor votes under a Senate agreement struck by the two parties in exchange for advancing Biden’s remaining district court nominees without Republican stalling tactics.

“Judge Wynn’s brazenly partisan decision to rescind his retirement is an unprecedented move that demonstrates some judges are nothing more than politicians in robes,” Tillis said in an emailed statement.

Wynn, who was appointed by President Barack Obama in 2010, made public plans early this year to take senior status, a form of semi-retirement, upon the confirmation of his replacement to the Raleigh-based seat.

Wynn is the third judge to rescind their retirement plans since Trump’s Nov. 5 election win. Judges Max Cogburn of the Western District of North Carolina and Algenon Marbley of the Southern District of Ohio had previously announced plans to step back from active status upon confirmation of a successor.

The retirement reversals have come under sharp criticism from Senate Republicans, including Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). In a Dec. 2 floor speech, McConnell admonished the district judges as “partisan Democrat district judges” for reversing their plans “after the American people voted to fire Democrats” in last month’s election.

Tillis said in a Saturday statement regarding Wynn that “the Senate Judiciary Committee should hold a hearing on his blatant attempt to turn the judicial retirement system into a partisan game, and he deserves the ethics complaints and recusal demands from the Department of Justice heading his way.”

A conservative judicial advocacy group filed ethics complaints Friday against the two Democratic-appointed district court judges that earlier rescinded.

“If the facts demonstrate that a sitting judge withdrew an existing retirement or senior-status letter because of the outcome of a presidential election, that would violate Canons 5 and 2 of the Code of Conduct for United States Judges,” the complaint said.

The Sixth Circuit’s Jane Branstetter Stranch hasn’t publicly indicated whether she intends to walk back her plans to take senior status. She is still listed as a future judicial vacancy on the judiciary website.