1st Circuit's first woman judge to retire from active service

(Reuters) - U.S. Circuit Judge Sandra Lynch on Tuesday told the White House she plans to retire from active service on the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, giving President Joe Biden his fourth chance to name a judge to the Boston-based appellate court.

Lynch, an appointee of former Democratic President Bill Clinton who was the first woman to serve on the 1st Circuit, in a letter told Biden she intended to take senior status upon the confirmation of a successor.

"It has been and will continue to be an honor to serve my country as a judicial officer," Lynch said in the letter.

Lynch, 75, declined to comment. The news was first reported by Law.com.

Senior status is a form of semi-retirement for judges over the age of 65 who have completed at least 15 years on the federal bench. Presidents may name new full-time judges to fill those judges' seats.

Biden has already named one judge to the 1st Circuit, U.S. Circuit Judge Gustavo Gelpí, who won Senate confirmation in October.

Chief U.S. Circuit Judge Jeffrey Howard, an appointee of former Republican President George W. Bush, and U.S. Circuit Judges O. Rogeriee Thompson, an appointee of former Democratic President Barack Obama, also plan to take senior status.

Lynch joined the 1st Circuit, which hears appeals from Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Puerto Rico, in 1995. She was the first woman to serve as its chief judge from 2008 to 2015.

Prior to her nomination, she worked for nearly two decades at the Boston law firm Foley Hoag, where she was the first woman to head its litigation department.

Lynch wrote for a unanimous three-judge panel in 2020 that upheld Harvard University's use of race in undergraduate admissions in a case brought by opponents of affirmative action who said the school's policy discriminates against Asian-Americans.

The U.S. Supreme Court's conservative majority in January agreed to review that decision, potentially imperiling affirmative action policies widely used to increase the number of Black and Hispanic students on American campuses.

Lynch in her ruling said Harvard's use of race was not "impermissibly extensive" and "ensures that Harvard can retain the benefits of diversity it has already achieved."

More recently, Lynch wrote the majority opinion that rejected a challenge to Maine's COVID-19 vaccine mandate for healthcare workers by plaintiffs seeking a religious exemption. The Supreme Court last week declined to take that case up.

Read more:

1st Circuit's lone Republican-appointed judge to step down from active service

U.S. Senate confirms Puerto Rican judge Gelpi to 1st Circ. seat

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