James A. Wynn, Jr.

James Andrew Wynn, Jr. (born March 17, 1954) is an American jurist, currently a judge on the North Carolina Court of Appeals, and a former nominee to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

Early life and education

An African-American, Wynn was born in Robersonville, North Carolina. Wynn holds degrees from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (B.A., Journalism, 1975); Marquette University Law School (J.D., 1979) and University of Virginia School of Law (L.L.M., Judicial Process, 1995).

Early career

Wynn served in the Judge Advocate General's Corps (JAG) of the United States Navy on active duty from 1979 to 1983 and as a reservist from 1983 to present. His military assignments included service as a military judge; Staff Judge Advocate for Readiness Command Six in Washington, DC; Admiralty Attorney for reserve unit supporting the Commander-in-Chief for the Atlantic Fleet; and various military justice positions. Including service as Commanding Officer of Navy Reserve Judicial Activity Unit, Wynn has held three Commanding Officer and two Executive Officer billets. His personal awards includes three Meritorious Service Medals and two Navy Commendation Medals.

After completing his active duty service in the Navy, Wynn worked as an Assistant Appellate Defenser for North Carolina for one year before practicing law with a firm that eventually became Fitch, Butterfield & Wynn in Wilson and Greenville, North Carolina. He engaged in a general law practice.

Judicial career

In 1990, Wynn was elected in a statewide contest to fill an unexpired term of two years on the North Carolina Court of Appeals. He was reelected to eight-year terms in 1992 and 2000. In 1998, Governor Jim Hunt appointed Wynn to the North Carolina Supreme Court but he lost the election to retain his seat and returned to the Court of Appeals by appointment.

Wynn is chair of the Judicial Division of the American Bar Association (www.abanet.org/jd/) for 2007-2008, and is the first African-American to hold that post. [ [http://projects.newsobserver.com/blogs/wynn_makes_history_in_new_post Wynn makes history in new post | newsobserver.com projects ] ] He is in the ABA House of Delegates. He was a drafting Commissioner on the Joint Commission to Evaluate the ABA Model Code of Judicial Conduct. He formerly Chaired the Appellate Judges Conference and Chaired the Working Group on First Amendment and Judicial Campaign Speech which rewrote Canon 5 of the ABA Model Code of Judicial Conduct.

Wynn has been a member of the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (www.nccusl.org) for fifteen years. His positions include, Executive Committee, Scope and Program Committee, and numerous drafting committees including the Revised Uniform Arbitration Act; Revised Tort Apportment Act; Genetics Discrimination Act. He currently serves as Division Chair for several drafting committees.

Wynn is vice-chair of the Board of Directors for the Justice at Stake Campaign in Washington, DC. (www.justiceatstake.org). He is a member of the American Law Institute. He chaired the North Carolina Bar Association's Brown v. Board of Education 50th anniversary celebration. He is a past trustee of the North Carolina State Bar IOLTA committee and a past trustee of Pitt Community College.

He was honored by the Marquette University Law School as its 2002 "Hallows Fellow and Visiting Scholar." Marquette University as a whole honored him in 2004 with its "All University Alumni Merit Award."

Nomination to the Fourth Circuit

On August 5, 1999, President Bill Clinton nominated Judge Wynn to become the first African American to serve on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Clinton nominated Wynn to the vacancy created by the decision by Judge James Dickson Phillips, Jr. to take senior status. Clinton had previously been unsuccessful in getting James A. Beaty, Jr. confirmed to the same seat.

Wynn's nomination never received a hearing from the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee or received a full vote from the U.S. Senate due to the resistance of Sen. Jesse Helms, who claimed that the court did not need any more judges. [ [http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/race_relations/jan-june01/justice_05-08.html Online NewsHour: Race and Justice - May 8, 2001 ] ] [ [http://clinton4.nara.gov/textonly/WH/new/html/Fri_Dec_29_135529_2000.html President Clinton Appoints Roger Gregory to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ] ]

Clinton renominated Wynn to the Fourth Circuit on January 3, 2001, but his nomination was returned by President Bush on March 20, 2001, along with 61 other executive and judicial nominations that Clinton had made. [ [http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2001/03/20/politics/main280123.shtml Bush Dumps Clinton Nominees, 62 Executive And Judicial Nominees Are Pulled... - CBS News ] ]

The Fourth Circuit seat to which Wynn was nominated remains vacant to this day. Twice, President George W. Bush has tried to fill the seat. Terrence Boyle was nominated by Bush on May 9 2001, but his nomination was never brought to a vote on the floor of the Senate. On January 9, 2007, the White House announced that it would not be re-nominating Boyle to the Court of Appeals. [ [http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Judicial-Withdrawal.html?hp&ex=1168405200&en=909acae6f726aea8&ei=5094&partner=homepage NY Times] ] On July 17, 2007, Bush nominated Robert J. Conrad, Jr. for the seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit [ [http://www.newsobserver.com/659/story/640708.html News and Observer] ] to take the place of the retired James Dickson Phillips, Jr. [ [http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/07/20070717-10.html Nominations Sent to the Senate ] ] [http://www.charlotte.com/local/story/201332.html]

Publications

*"Judging the Judges", Marquette University Law Review, 86 Marq.L.Rev. 753, Spring 2003
*"Military Courts and the All Writs Act: Who Supervises the Military Justice System?," Judges Journal, American Bar Association, Vol. 45, No. 3.
*"Selection of State Judges", 22 U.Tol. L. Rev. 287, Winter 2002
*"Judicial Diversity: Where Independence and Accountability Meet", 67 Alb. L. Rev –, 2004
*"Ground to Stand on: Charles Hamilton Houston’s Legal Foundation for Dr. King", 9 N.C. Bar. J. (2004).
*"State v. Mann, 13 N.C. 263 (N.C. 1830): Judicial Choice or Judicial Duty? (WYNN dissentiente)", --- NC Law Review --, Fall 2008.
*"Critics, Apologists, and Revisionists: Transparency and Other Virtures of Brown’s Footnote Eleven" – Work in Progress, completion by Spring, 2009.

ee also

*President Clinton's judicial appointments controversy

References

* [http://www.nccourts.org/Courts/Appellate/Appeal/Biographies/Biography.asp?Name=Wynn Official biography]
* [http://www.judgewynn.com/ Wynn 2008 Campaign site]