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U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) is not pleased with U.S. Fourth Circuit Appeals Judge James Wynn these days.
Judge Wynn, 70, appointed to the Circuit Court by President Barack Obama in 2010, was all set to retire from the bench last month, until the election of Pres.-elect Donald Trump changed his plans. Outgoing Pres. Biden had already selected Judge Wynn’s replacement on the Fourth Circuit, when all of a sudden, U.S. Senate Democrats and Republicans struck a deal that ultimately blocked the nomination on Wynn’s replacement, substituting instead a judicial candidate of Pres.-elect Trump’s.
Apparently in a move to stymie any deal that would have a Trump nominee replace him, Judge Wynn wrote a letter to Pres. Biden last month, telling the Democratic president, “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. I respectfully withdraw my letter to you from January 4, 2024. I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.”
So why is Sen. Thom Tillis upset?
Tillis, who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee, was looking forward to replacing Judge Wynn with a Trump nominee. Both he and North Carolina’s junior Sen. Tedd Budd (R-NC) had already planned to block the nomination of North Carolina Solicitor General Ryan Park to the Wynn seat. Tillis charged that Park was a “partisan” who shouldn’t be allowed to serve as a judge. Sen. Tillis even threatened the Senate Judiciary Committee last month that if Park’s nomination was allowed to reach the Senate floor for approval, “there would be consequences.”
Democrats on the committee called Tillis’ bluff. But before Parks’ name could reach the Senate floor, Senate Democrats and Republicans reached a deal to kill four of the Biden Administration’s appellate nominations, in return for Republicans easing up on their opposition.
That’s when Judge Wynn decided to make his move and rescinded his announced retirement from the Fourth Circuit bench.
Tillis was furious, noting that Judge Wynn was among several federal judges who had rescinded their announced retirements as to put a halt to Trump getting any more Republican judges to fill the federal bench.
“Judge Wynn clearly takes issue with the fact that Donald Trump was just elected President, and this 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,” Tillis wrote, adding that Wynn’s move was “brazenly partisan” and “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.”
“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,” Tillis continued.
Prior to serving on the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, Judge Wynn served on the N.C. Court of appeals from 1990 to 1998, and from 1999 to 2010. Wynn sat on the state Supreme Court for three months in 1998.
In the meantime, Solicitor Parks withdrew his name from consideration for the Fourth Circuit Court.
