Federal Appeals Court Judge James Wynn plans to step down from his seat. His decision to take senior status will give President Biden the chance to appoint four judges to the 14-member Appeals Court based in Richmond, Virginia.
A federal court website shows that Wynn announced his decision Friday. The date of the 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals vacancy is listed as “to be determined.”
“Wynn intends to take senior status, a form of semi-retirement, from his Raleigh, North Carolina, seat,” Bloomberg Law reported Tuesday.
President Barack Obama appointed Wynn to his appellate seat in 2010.
A graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Wynn earned his law degree from Marquette University and a master of laws degree from the University of Virginia.
He served in the JAG Corps in the US Navy from 1979-1983, then worked as an assistant appellate defender in 1983-1984.
After working in private practice in Wilson and Greenville from 1984 to 1990, he joined the state Court of Appeals in 1990. He served on that court until 1998, then rejoined the Appeals Court from 1999 until his federal appointment. Wynn served part of 1998 on North Carolina’s Supreme Court.
Carolina Journal’s most recent coverage of Wynn took place on Jan. 3, two days before he announced his plans to step down.
Wynn authored the majority opinion in Jones v. Solomon. Wynn and two colleagues agreed a prison inmate in North Carolina could pursue a lawsuit claiming officials transferred him from one prison to another in retaliation for his complaints about prison conditions.