Wilson has been an intermittent member of the Federalist Society, including while at Yale Law School from 1992 to 1995, and then joining the Mississippi chapter from 1996 to 2005 and again since 2019.[5]
On March 30, 2020, President Donald Trump announced his intent to nominate Wilson to serve as a United States circuit judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, to fill the seat vacated by Judge E. Grady Jolly, who assumed senior status on October 3, 2017.[17] On May 4, 2020, his nomination was sent to the Senate. On May 18, 2020, the American Bar Association rated Wilson as "well qualified," its highest rating.[18] On May 20, 2020, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on Wilson's nomination.[19] On June 11, 2020, Wilson's nomination was reported out of committee by a 12–10 vote.[20][21] On June 22, 2020, the Senate invoked cloture on Wilson's nomination by a 51–43 vote.[22] On June 24, 2020, Wilson's nomination was confirmed by a 52–48 vote.[23] Wilson's confirmation marked the 200th confirmation of a federal judge nominated by Donald Trump.[24][25] Wilson was the sixth judge nominated by Trump to be confirmed to the Fifth Circuit. Wilson received his judicial commission on July 3, 2020.[8]
In October 2022, with Wilson writing for a unanimous panel, the Fifth Circuit held that "Congress’s cession of its power of the purse to the [Consumer Financial Protection] Bureau violates the Appropriations Clause and the Constitution’s underlying structural separation of powers."[26] The Supreme Court reversed the decision in Consumer Financial Protection Bureau v. Community Financial Services Ass'n of America, Ltd. (2024).
In February 2023, with Wilson again writing for a unanimous panel, the Fifth Circuit held that—though the federal statute that prohibits the possession of firearms by people subject to domestic-violence restraining orders (after civil, rather than criminal, proceedings) "embodies salutary policy goals meant to protect vulnerable people in our society"—the statute is unconstitutional in light of the Supreme Court's decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen.[27] The Supreme Court reversed the decision in United States v. Rahimi (2024).
In March 2024, with Wilson writing for a panel unanimous in the judgment, the Fifth Circuit held that “the EPA exceeded its statutory authority” in ordering a company “that has been fluorinating plastic containers using the same process since 1983” to stop manufacturing or processing long-chain perfluoroalkyls (PFAS), potentially dangerous chemicals that some call “forever chemicals.” Wilson explained that the court’s ruling did “not render the EPA powerless to regulate [the company]’s fluorination process,” but merely prevented the agency from “skirt[ing] the framework set by Congress by arbitrarily deeming [the company]’s decades-old fluorination process a ‘significant new use.’”[28]