The Arc of the Moral Universe: A Conversation with Judge James A. Wynn
Uploader: ABA ROLI & CHR
Original upload date: Fri, 02 Apr 2021 00:00:00 GMT
Archive date: Tue, 30 Nov 2021 17:50:16 GMT
On March 25, 2021, the American Bar Association Center for Human Rights (ABA CHR) hosted a dynamic conversational event between Professor Michael Tigar and the CHR Board Chair, the Honorable James A.
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Wynn. Mr. Tigar interviewed Judge Wynn about his legendary life and career, highlighting 14 case opinions by Judge Wynn.
A member of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit since 2010, Judge Wynn was born in rural Robersonville, North Carolina, in the Jim Crow era and raised through the height of the Civil Rights Movement. From humble roots he graduated from the University of North Carolina and Marquette Law School, served in the U.S. Navy JAG Corps and on the North Carolina Court of Appeals before joining the Fourth Circuit, where he has written landmark opinions on issues ranging from voting rights to health care to digital privacy and beyond. Recently, Judge Wynn touched upon voting rights during NYU’s School of Law 2020 2020 James Madison Lecture.
Michael Tigar, former Chair of the ABA Litigation Section, is a member of CHR and a renowned criminal defense attorney, human rights advocate, and law teacher. In 1999, the California Attorneys for Criminal Justice held a ballot for "Lawyer of the Century." Tigar was third in the balloting — behind Clarence Darrow and Thurgood Marshall. His memoir, Sensing Injustice: A Lawyer's Life in the Battle for Change, is forthcoming in April 2021.
Below are the cases Mr. Tigar touched upon during the event:
Long v. Hooks, 972 F.3d 442 (4th Cir. 2020) (en banc), as amended (Aug. 26, 2020) (concurrence) (Concluded that a defendant in a decades-old rape case should be released for having demonstrated actual innocence under the habeas statute. The defendant was released at the state’s request days after the opinion was filed.)
Attkisson v. Holder, 925 F.3d 606 (4th Cir.), as amended (June 10, 2019) (concurring in part, dissenting in part)) (calling attention to the government’s litigation tactics and the information asymmetry between an investigative reporter and the government.
Roe v. Dep’t of Def., 947 F.3d 207, 212 (4th Cir.), as amended (Jan. 14, 2020) (military discharges related to HIV status)
Grimm v. Gloucester Cnty. Sch. Bd., 972 F.3d 586 (4th Cir.), as amended (Aug. 28, 2020) (concurrence) (likening school bathroom policy, which discriminated against transgender students, to earlier generations’ “separate but equal” policies)
Bosley v. Alexander, 442 S.E.2d 82 (N.C. Ct. App. 1994) (questioning ongoing validity of doctrine of contributory negligence in NC)
Wilson v. Flaherty, 689 F.3d 332 (4th Cir. 2012) (dissent) (habeas case, rejects formalism, justice-based approach)
Nelson v. Freeland, 507 S.E.2d 882 (N.C. 1998) (eliminated the distinction between licensees and invitees in North Carolina common law. Continues to be taught in local law schools)
E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. v. Kolon Indus., Inc., 637 F.3d 435 (4th Cir. 2011) ((pleading requirements related to Sherman Act claims)
Common Cause v. Rucho, 318 F. Supp. 3d 777 (M.D.N.C. 2018), vacated and remanded, 139 S. Ct. 2484 (2019) (partisan gerrymandering)
League of Women Voters of N.C. v. North Carolina, 769 F.3d 224 (4th Cir. 2014) Found that some aspects of North Carolina’s new voter law—introduced immediately after Shelby County—violated the Voting Rights Act)
Covington v. North Carolina, 316 F.R.D. 117 (M.D.N.C. 2016), aff’d, 137 S. Ct. 2211 (2017); see also Covington v. North Carolina, 270 F. Supp. 3d 881 (M.D.N.C. 2017) (Found that North Carolina state legislative districts were racially gerrymandered)
Wise v. Circosta, 978 F.3d 93 (4th Cir. 2020) (opinion on denial of emergency relief) (Refused to interfere in state election proceedings and noted the dangers posed by the dissent’s view)
Porter v. Clarke, 923 F.3d 348 (4th Cir. 2019) (challenge to conditions of confinement on Virginia’s death row)
State v. Wright, 616 S.E.2d 366 (N.C. Ct. App. 2005) (trial judge’s inappropriate comments violated the criminal defendant’s right to due process)