Judge James Wynn Jr. announced plans to step down from his role as an active judge on the US Court Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, giving President Joe Biden a fourth seat to fill on the court.
Wynn intends to take senior status, a form of semi-retirement, from his Raleigh, North Carolina, seat, according to the US Courts website. Wynn was appointed by Barack Obama in 2010.
Biden’s nominee for a Baltimore vacancy on the court, Nicole Berner, is currently making her way through the Senate.
Berner, general counsel for the Service Employees International Union, appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee for her confirmation hearing on Dec. 13 last year.
If both Berner and a Biden-picked successor for Wynn’s seat are confirmed, the president will have selected four judges on the Fourth Circuit, creating a larger Democratic-appointed majority on the 14-member court.
Progressives have stressed the importance of Democratic-appointed appellate judges stepping away from the bench in the hopes that Biden can match the record 54 circuit court judges confirmed under Donald Trump.
The Senate confirmed 39 Biden circuit nominees in his first three years, and he currently has four appellate picks pending in the chamber. He has three other vacancies to fill, including Wynn’s.
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