Mitch McConnell calls on anti-Trump judges to recuse themselves from some cases

Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell blasted two federal judges who revoked their pending retirements after President-elect Donald Trump’s victory, saying they have exposed their political bias and should recuse themselves from some cases.

U.S. District Judge Max Cogburn in North Carolina has reversed a 2022 decision to take “senior” status, a semi-retirement that would have allowed his seat to be filled by a new presidential nomination. So did U.S. District Judge Algenon Marbley, who sits in southern Ohio.

Both judges had been waiting for President Biden to name replacements before taking senior status, but they now have said they’ll remain on full active duty, which will deny Mr. Trump the chance to fill those seats.

“It’s hard to conclude that this is anything other than open partisanship,” Mr. McConnell, Kentucky Republican, said Monday on the Senate floor. “They rolled the dice that a Democrat could replace them and now that he won’t, they’re changing their plans to keep a Republican from doing it.”

He urged the incoming Trump administration to “explore all available recusal options” in cases that come before the two judges.

He said it’s “clear now that they have a political finger on the scale.”

Mr. McConnell also had a warning for other judges not to follow suit.

Under a deal senators struck last month, Democrats will rush to confirm a dozen or so district judges before they cede control of the chamber to the GOP at the end of this year. But the deal preserves four circuit judgeships for Mr. Trump to fill.

In two of those cases, judges on the 4th and the 6th U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals have announced retirements pending replacements, and Mr. Biden had submitted nominations that will no longer see Senate action.

Mr. McConnell said it would be “alarming” if they rescinded those offers now that it’s clear Mr. Trump would nominate replacements.

“If these circuit judges unretire because they don’t like who won the election, I can only assume they will face significant ethics complaints,” the Senate Republican leader said.

Judge Cogburn was nominated by President Obama. Judge Marbley was installed by President Clinton.

The issue is erupting at a time when the judiciary is increasingly under scrutiny.

Mr. Trump’s three Supreme Court picks mean GOP presidents have nominated six of the current nine members, and Democrats have attacked several of them for accepting unreported gifts from conservative figures.

Mr. Biden got a chance to nominate one member, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.

In the lower federal courts, Democrats have complained about the way cases are assigned in Texas regions where conservative-leaning judges predominate.

They say that allows for litigants such as Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to pick a judge to hear cases challenging Biden policies. The result was usually a loss for Mr. Biden.

Republicans counter that Mr. Trump’s opponents did the same thing, seeking to file challenges to the previous president in liberal-leaning federal courts on the West Coast. The results were predictable rulings against Mr. Trump.