Federal Appeals Court Judge Rescinds Retirement

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U.S. Circuit Judge James Wynn is the third judge to do so since the November election.

A U.S. appeals court judge rescinded his decision to retire late last week, becoming the third judge to do so following President-elect Donald Trump’s win last month.

Wynn did not provide a reason why he decided to rescind his retirement, nor did he make any references to Trump.

In a letter dated Dec. 13 to President Joe Biden, Judge James Wynn of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said he would no longer be retiring. Two district judges had previously indicated they would no longer retire after the Nov. 5 election.

“I write to advise that, after careful consideration, I have decided to continue in regular active service as a United States circuit judge for the Fourth Circuit,” Wynn wrote to Biden. After withdrawing his letter to Biden to resign that was dated earlier this year, Wynn said, “I apologize for any inconvenience.”

When a judge’s retirement is rescinded, Republican senators, who will hold the majority in January, will not be able to confirm replacements nominated by Trump for the seat.

Wynn sent his letter a day after Biden’s nominee to succeed him, North Carolina Solicitor General Ryan Park, formally withdrew from consideration after his path to win Senate confirmation vanished.

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) said Wynn’s decision was politically motivated.

“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,” he said in a Dec. 14 statement.

Tillis said in a social media post the judge’s decision is “a slap in the face to the U.S. Senate, which came to a bipartisan agreement to hold off on confirming his replacement until the next Congress is sworn-in in January.”

Senate Democrats and Republicans post-election cut a deal that cleared the way for votes on about a dozen of Biden’s remaining trial court nominees in exchange for not pushing forward with four appellate court nominees, including Park.

That left four seats without confirmed nominees that Trump could try to fill upon taking office on Jan. 20. Additionally, two vacancies were contingent on two Democrat-appointed judges following through on their plans to leave active service.

The other judges who had decided not to retire are U.S. District Judge Max Cogburn in North Carolina and U.S. District Judge Algenon Marbley in Ohio. Marbley, Cogburn, and Wynn were appointees of Democratic presidential administrations.

Earlier this month, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said on the Senate floor that Marbley and Cogburn reversed their retirement for political reasons and urged Trump to ask Cogburn and Marbley to recuse themselves from certain cases.

The Article III Project, a group run by Trump ally Mike Davis, on Dec. 13 announced it had meanwhile filed judicial misconduct complaints against the two trial court judges who rescinded retirement plans post-election.

Several weeks ago, the judiciary said a federal judge in the Western District of North Carolina, U.S. District Judge Frank Whitney, had elected to take senior status, which went into effect on Dec. 1. Whitney is an appointee of a former Republican administration and one of the first judges since Trump’s election to announce plans to take senior status.

Reuters contributed to this report.