Reduced role for Judge James Wynn, an NC native, will let Biden nominate a new judge

North Carolina native Judge James Wynn is set to partially retire from the U.S. Court of Appeals, giving President Joe Biden the ability to nominate someone to the bench.

White House officials confirmed to McClatchy Tuesday morning that Wynn announced he is taking senior status, meaning he will semi-retire, after 14 years of serving in the 4th Circuit, which encompasses North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland and South Carolina.

Wynn previously served nearly 20 years as a North Carolina appellate judge, including a stint on the N.C. Supreme Court.

Carl Tobias, a professor at the University of Richmond’s School of Law, said in an email to McClatchy that while Biden gets to make the nomination, the GOP has incentive to delay the process to fill Wynn’s vacancy since it is an election year. That means if the process is delayed, and a Republican presidential candidate comes out victorious over the Democratic incumbent, the nomination power goes to him or her.

“I expect that the White House will expeditiously nominate someone by consulting N.C. GOP Sens. (Thom) Tillis, who is a judiciary committee member, and (Ted) Budd,” said Tobias, who holds the position of Williams Chair in Law at his school. “The nominee then must have a hearing, a panel discussion and approval vote and a confirmation vote.”

Tough nomination process

During Wynn’s lengthy judicial career, he nearly made history as the 4th Circuit’s first Black judge when former President Bill Clinton attempted in 1994 and 2000 to nominate him to the bench, but was blocked by Sen. Jesse Helms, a Republican from North Carolina.

At the time, the states making up the 4th Circuit had the largest Black population per-capita, and a UNC-Chapel Hill alumni publication quoted Wynn saying “Jesse Helms decided that the court shouldn’t be integrated on his watch.”

Former President Barack Obama again nominated Wynn and this time, in 2010, he received Senate approval with the backing of both of North Carolina’s senators at the time, Democrat Kay Hagan and Republican Richard Burr.

By that point, Judge Roger Gregory already had become the first Black judge on the 4th Circuit bench.

Wynn’s career

Notable cases that came before Wynn included several about North Carolina voting rights and redistricting; the case of Ronnie Long, a man pardoned after the defense learned prosecutors withheld evidence; whether a Virginia school violated Title IX by banning a transgender male student from using the boys’ bathrooms at his school; and former President Donald Trump’s travel ban.

Wynn grew up in Martin County and graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill. He received his juris doctor degree from Marquette University Law School and a master’s in law degree in the judicial process from the University of Virginia School of Law, according to his biography on Marquette University’s website.