Judges defy Trump by revoking retirements, blocking him from naming replacements

The anti-Trump resistance is spreading to the federal courts, where three judges have rescinded their retirements to block President Trump from picking their replacements.

The latest is Judge James Andrew Wynn on the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

In a letter to President Biden on Friday, he revoked his decision to take senior status, a semiretirement. Republicans said the act of political defiance was unprecedented for a sitting appeals court judge.

“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,” he wrote.

He had been awaiting confirmation of a successor before moving to senior status.

The Senate made evident several weeks ago that it would not confirm a Biden appointment for Judge Wynn’s seat.

U.S. District Judge Max Cogburn in North Carolina and U.S. District Judge Algenon Marbley in southern Ohio also revoked their announced moves to senior status after Mr. Trump’s election.

The partisanship is standard fare for Capitol Hill or the White House, but Republicans said it was shocking to see it on such raw display in the federal judiciary.

“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,” said Sen. Thom Tillis, North Carolina Republican.

Mr. Tillis fought to block Biden nominee Ryan Park, who he said was too extreme for the court. In a deal struck by senators last month, Mr. Park’s name was left off a list of judges to be confirmed before Democrats cede the Senate to Republicans at the start of the next Congress in January.

That set the stage for Judge Wynn’s reversal, 11 months after he said he would take semiretirement.

Republicans had been warning judges not to reverse their retirement decisions.

Sen. Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader in the upper chamber, had said this month that a change of mind of Judge Wynn would be “especially alarming.”

“I can only assume they will face significant ethics complaints,” Mr. McConnell said.

He urged the incoming Justice Department to demand that the judges recuse themselves from cases where their apparent political bias against Mr. Trump would be problematic.

“As I have repeatedly warned the judiciary in other matters, if you play political games, expect political prizes,” Mr. McConnell said.

Judge Wynn, 70, was appointed to the 4th Circuit by President Obama and took his seat in 2010.

Judge Marbley, also 70, was appointed by President Clinton and was seated in 1997. Judge Cogburn, 73, another Obama appointee, was seated in 2011.

Their reversals of retirements are the latest in the struggle for supremacy in the federal courts, where many pressing issues are decided. Judge Cogburn struck down North Carolina’s ban on same-sex marriage in 2014 before the Supreme Court invalidated such prohibitions. Judge Wynn has supported transgender students’ bathroom choices and opposed Mr. Trump’s travel ban from his first term in office.

On Friday, the Article III Project, a conservative group, filed formal complaints against Judge Marbley and Judge Cogburn.

Decisions to revoke retirements usually have other reasons.

In 2018, Judge Michael Kanne, who served on the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, revoked his decision to take senior status after it became clear that a former clerk would not fill his seat as he wanted.

He remained on the bench until he died in 2022.

In 2021, Judge Robert King of the 4th U.S. Circuit rescinded his plan to take senior status. Legal blogs speculated that Judge King was miffed that Sen. Joe Manchin III of West Virginia, a Democrat at the time, sank the nomination of his preferred replacement.