President-elect Donald Trump’s ability to fill all four appellate court vacancies tied to this week’s bipartisan Senate deal hinges on whether two Democratic-appointed judges follow through on their planned retirements. Both judges announced their intent to take senior status earlier this year but linked their decisions to the confirmation of their successors.
Senate Democrats and Republicans finalized a late-night deal on Wednesday, agreeing to advance several of President Joe Biden’s federal trial court nominees in exchange for abandoning efforts to confirm four of his appellate court nominees. A spokesperson for Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer explained that all four lacked the votes needed for confirmation.
The deal paves the way for Trump to appoint judges to the Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and the Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Additionally, it positions him to nominate replacements for vacancies on the Richmond-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and the Cincinnati-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals—if Judges James Wynn, 70, and Jane Branstetter Stranch, 71, proceed with their retirement plans.
Republican Senators Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty voiced their hope that the judges would honor their announcements, warning against politicizing the federal judiciary by rescinding their decisions now that Trump, not Biden, will name their replacements.
Wynn and Stranch announced earlier this year their intentions to transition to senior status, a form of semi-retirement, contingent upon Senate confirmation of their successors. However, judicial retirements timed with presidential transitions have increasingly followed partisan lines. John Collins, a law professor at George Washington University, noted that judges can rescind their retirements anytime before their successors are appointed, potentially leaving Trump unable to fill the seats.
“This decision could shift based on the political landscape,” Collins said, adding that such reversals are rare but not unprecedented.
Neither Wynn nor Stranch responded to requests for comment. However, U.S. District Judge Algenon Marbley, a Clinton appointee, recently reversed his decision to leave active service following Trump’s November 5 election victory.
Before the deal, Biden had nominated Karla Campbell, a former clerk for Stranch, to fill her 6th Circuit seat. Campbell, a labor lawyer with family ties to the Stranch Jennings & Garvey law firm, faced opposition from Tennessee’s Republican senators, Blackburn and Hagerty. Similarly, North Carolina Republicans had opposed Biden’s pick for Wynn’s seat, North Carolina Solicitor General Ryan Park, with Senator Thom Tillis asserting that he had the votes to block Park’s confirmation.
Tillis expressed his expectation that Wynn and Stranch would not reverse their decisions, emphasizing the bipartisan nature of the Senate agreement and the integrity of the judicial process. “I expect these judges to follow through with their word,” Tillis said.
Trump’s opportunity to reshape the judiciary, particularly at the appellate level, highlights the stakes of judicial retirements and the enduring influence of bipartisan Senate negotiations during a presidential transition.
