A US appeals court judge has taken the rare step of reversing his decision to retire from active service on the bench, denying Republican President-elect Donald Trump the ability to fill a judicial vacancy.
U.S. Circuit Judge James Wynn, a Democratic appointee of former President Barack Obama to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia, revealed his decision Friday in a letter to Democratic President Joe Biden.
It’s the first time since Trump’s Nov. 5 election that a Democratic-appointed appeals judge has scrapped plans to take seniority status, a form of semi-retirement for judges whose vacancies can be filled by presidents.
Two trial court judges did just that, prompting complaints from conservatives, including Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, who discussed the “unprecedented” speed of electing judges after being elected.
Republican Senator Thom Tillis, who fought to prevent Biden’s choice from winning Senate confirmation to fill Wynne’s seat, said in X that Wynne was “engaged in a brazen attempt to turn the judicial retirement system into a partisan game.”
Wynn sent his letter a day after Biden’s successor, North Carolina Solicitor General Ryan Park, formally withdrew from the idea after losing his way to winning Senate confirmation.
Senate Democrats and Republicans cut a deal post-election that cleared the way for votes on a dozen of Biden’s remaining trial court nominees in exchange for not advancing four appeals court nominees, including Park.
A spokesman for Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said all four lacked enough votes to be confirmed.
That left four seats without definitive candidates that Trump could try to fill after taking office on Jan. 20. But the two vacancies were contingent on two Democrat-appointed judges following plans to leave active service.
Those judges included Wynn, 70, who in January announced plans to take the senior position contingent on a successor. On Friday, he changed his mind to Biden.
“I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused me,” Winn wrote.
The Article III Project, a group run by Trump aide Mike Davis, announced late Friday that it had meanwhile filed judicial misconduct complaints against two trial court judges who overturned retirement plans after the election.
Those judges are U.S. District Judge Max Cogburn in North Carolina and U.S. District Judge Algenon Marbley in Ohio. They did not respond to requests for comment.
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