Another federal judge has decided to reverse their retirement plans in the wake of Donald Trump’s victory — and a few Senate Republicans are performatively up in arms about precedent in response.
“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,” U.S. appeals court judge James Wynn said in a letter to President Biden last week after alerting the President to his retirement plans in January of this year.
“As a result of that decision, I respectfully withdraw my letter to you of January 5, 2024,” Wynn wrote. “I apologize for any inconvenience I may have caused.”
Wynn, 70, told the White House that he would retire from the bench once his successor was confirmed by the Senate. Biden picked the solicitor general of North Carolina, Ryan Park, as his replacement back in July, but he has not yet been confirmed. In fact, due to a deal that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer made with Republicans to get nine of Biden’s district court nominees through, there won’t be a vote on Park’s nomination before the new Congress.
The North Carolina solicitor general announced last week that he would withdrawal his nomination. A day later, Wynn sent Biden the letter, saying he’d changed his mind on retirement.
Wynn is one of three Democrat-appointed federal judges with lifetime appointments who have decided to rescind their retirements in the wake of Trump’s victory in November. The other two are North Carolina District Judge Max Cogburn and Ohio District Judge Algenon Marbley. It has the effect of blocking Donald Trump from taking the opportunity to nominate someone young and right-wing to the bench for another lifetime appointment.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) brought his irritation with the first retirement reversals to the Senate floor earlier this month — a cartoonish achievement in hypocrisy by the man who blocked Democrats from filling a Supreme Court seat.
“Looking to history, only two judges have ever ‘un-retired’ after a presidential election ― one Democrat in 2004, and one Republican in 2009,” McConnell said. “But now, in just a matter of weeks, Democrats have already met that all-time record. … It’s hard to conclude that this is anything other than open partisanship.”
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) was also upset about the move by the judge from his home state. He put out a statement on Twitter over the weekend, railing against the “unprecedented move” and suggested Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee should hold a hearing once Republicans hold the majority on the panel next year.
“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. “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. 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.”
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Simple cause and effect: Wynn understood that Trump would chose his replacement and, from Kavanaugh down to Cannon, that means cryptofascist sh*tshow so io ipso babe and F-ing a fortiori. When someone shows you who they are …
ETA: Republican Senators like Tillis need to pull their faces from between Trump’s butt-cheeks, take a deep breath, and think long and hard about what kind of world they would like their grandchildren to live in.
This is a SLAPP. Especially since he is giddy with the settlement from ABC.
And this joins CBS & 60 Minutes, Bob Woodward, and the Pulitzer committee. There is probably more that I missed.
Can anyone stop his tantrums?
Edit to add: An obligation??? To what harass?
Perfect. They are all wankers.