The Honorable James A. Wynn Jr. is Confirmed for the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
On
August 5, 2010, Judge James Wynn Jr. was confirmed to serve on the U.S.
Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Judge Wynn was serving as the
Senior Associate Judge on the N.C. Court of Appeals when he was
nominated to sit on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
Judge Wynn’s long and distinguished record demonstrates profound respect for traditional American constitutional values such as free expression and association, due process, and equal protection. He is a long time friend of the PBA, and has been endorsed each time he ran for the N.C. Court of Appeals. In February of this year, Judge Wynn served as the keynote speaker for the Cary chapter’s fourth annual ‘George Almond’ Officer of the Year banquet.
Judge
James Wynn Jr. was born in
Robersonville,
North Carolina in the farm community of Gold Point. He is the
fourth of seven children in his family. His father worked primarily as a
carpenter, and his mother operated a sewing machine in a factory and
later retired as a nurse's aide. His family operated a small farm on
which he worked during his early years. During high school he worked at
an
IGA grocery store
in the nearby town of Williamston. Judge Wynn holds degrees from the
University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill,
Marquette
University Law School, and
University of
Virginia School of Law
Judge 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 August of 2009 before retiring with 30 years of service. His military assignments included service as a military judge; Staff Judge Advocate for Readiness Command Six in Washington, DC; Admiralty Attorney for a reserve unit supporting the Commander-in-Chief for the Atlantic Fleet; and various military justice positions. Including his service as Commanding Officer of the Navy Reserve Judicial Activity Unit, Wynn has held three Commanding Officer and two Executive Officer billets. His personal awards include three Meritorious Service Medals and two Navy Commendation Medals.
After completing his active duty service in the Navy, Judge Wynn worked as an Assistant Appellate Defender for North Carolina for one year before practicing law with a firm that eventually became Fitch, Butterfield & Wynn with offices in Wilson and Greenville, North Carolina.
In 1990, Judge 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 both 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 was reelected to eight-year terms on the North Carolina Court of Appeals in both 2000 and 2008.
Judge Wynn has received numerous honors during his judicial career to including: National Bar Association Raymond Pace Achievement Award, the Marquette University “All University Alumni Merit Award”, Marquette University School Of Law “Hallows Fellow and Visiting Scholar”, General Baptist Convention Martin Luther King Achievement Award, Warren Burger Scholarship for John Marshall Harlan Symposium on Comparative Law in England and Scotland, and the NC Advocates for Justice Appellate Judge of the Year.
Biography information in this article about Judge Wynn was obtained from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, and the NC Court of Appeals web site.