‘Unprecedented’: Federal judges go political, reverse their ‘retirements’ after Trump’s election win

Several federal judges have caused an uproar by going completely political and reversing their already announced “retirements” after President Trump’s election victory, meaning he will not now be nominating their replacements.

It was Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., who reacted to the latest flip-flop, that by James Wynn of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, a Barack Obama judge.

He announced he was rescinding his retirement.

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. Judge Wynn clearly takes issue with the fact that @realDonaldTrump was just elected President, and this decision is…

— Senator Thom Tillis (@SenThomTillis) December 14, 2024

The senator explained, “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. Judge Wynn clearly takes issue with the fact that @realDonaldTrump 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.”

The Washington Examiner said it’s routine for federal judges to time their retirements or ascent to senior status with a change in administration, though it’s rare to see judges change their minds about retirement.

WND had reported earlier on the political announcements by two other judges who reversed their plans after Trump’s landslide election win.

Their actions prompted Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican whose party soon will be the Senate majority, to warn about the active politicization of the judiciary.

He called the announcements by the two judges, one appointed by Bill Clinton and the other by Barack Obama, an indication of “a political finger on the scale.” He said the incoming Trump administration, backed by GOP majorities in the Senate and House should “explore all available recusal options with these judges.”

Under the Joe Biden-Kamala Harris regime over the last four years, the administrative state in Washington has been weaponized in multiple ways against Trump, Republicans and conservatives. One report showed 70% of education enforcement actions against colleges targeted the 10% of institutions that are Christian. Further, the FBI and DOJ openly assembled wild claims against Trump, such as that he improperly had government documents after his first presidency. In contrast, Biden was given a pass for having literally boxes of such documents in his garage after his vice presidency.

The judges who abruptly changed their retirement plans following Trump’s victory, which would mean a Republican president would nominate their replacements, were Judge Algenon Marbley of Ohio and Judge Max Cogburn of North Carolins.

Marbley was appointed by Clinton and Cogburn by Obama.

They both has announced plans to take senior status before the election, then flip-flopped when Trump won.

A report from Fox News explained McConnell, R-Ky., called the pair “partisan Democrat district judges.”

In fact, he said, American voters “voted to fire Democrats last month.”

“Looking to history, only two judges have ever unretired after a presidential election. One Democrat in 2004 and one Republican in 2009. 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,” McConnell said.