'Retired' judges back in action — and U.S. Senators want to know why

WASHINGTON — As at least three Democratic-appointed judges changed their plans to move to senior status following President-elect Donald Trump’s reelection last month, four senators exclusively shared with Raw Story their theories — from financial to political — for the last-minute retirement changes.

“It implicitly conveys concern on the part of judges who concluded that there's a real risk that their successor on the circuit might be someone who would be more of an activist or be more of a disrupter to the balance of the circuit than they anticipated,” Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) told Raw Story.

U.S. Circuit Judge James Wynn, appointed by former President Barack Obama, announced on Friday his decision to revoke his plans to retire from active service on the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., prompting a judicial misconduct complaint from Trump-allied Article III Project.

After Senate Republicans blocked President Joe Biden’s nomination to replace him, Wynn said he decided to “continue in regular active service,” rather than senior status, a form of semi-retirement that allows a new judge to be appointed and lets judges over age 65 with at least 15 years of federal bench service take on reduced caseloads.

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Sen. Ted Budd (R-NC) echoed the concerns of North Carolina’s other Republican senator, Thom Tillis, who called Wynn’s decision “a slap in the face to the U.S. Senate.”

“It's ridden in political activity, unretiring for political purposes. That's the ethical charge that's at the root of it, and it's concerning,” Budd told Raw Story.

Another Obama-appointee, U.S. District Judge Max Cogburn, sent the White House a letter in late November rescinding his plans to move to senior status, announced in 2022.

Former President Bill Clinton appointee, U.S. District Judge Algenon Marbley, in Columbus, Ohio, withdrew his plans to take senior status shortly after Trump’s Nov. 5 election victory.

“Individual justices decide when they want to retire. It’s their right,” Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) told Raw Story. “I’m not familiar with their individual stories or their details. For all I know is they decided that their personal finances needed a few more years of work. I have no idea.”

Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) said he hadn’t seen the news of judges rescinding their retirement plans, and Coons said he was “not familiar with the details of specific judges.

“I'll tell you that is something that has happened previously. A judge has a lifetime appointment, and it's their decision when to take senior status,” Coons said.

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