Margaret McKeown (California)

Margaret McKeown

Nonpartisan

United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit (senior status)

Tenure

2022 - Present

Years in position

2

Prior offices

United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit

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Education

Bachelor's

University of Wyoming, 1972

Law

Georgetown University Law Center, 1975

Personal

Birthplace

Casper, Wyo

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M. Margaret McKeown is a federal judge on senior status with the United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. She joined the court in 1998 after being nominated by President Bill Clinton (D).

On January 12, 2022, McKeown announced that she would assume senior status upon the confirmation of her successor. She assumed senior status on September 15, 2022.

Biography

Early life and education

Born in Casper, Wyoming, McKeown graduated from the University of Wyoming with her bachelor's degree in 1972, and from the Georgetown University Law Center with her J.D. in 1975.

Professional career

• 1980-1981: Special assistant, The White House
• 1980-1981: Special assistant, U.S. Secretary of the Interior
• 1975-1998: Private practice, Seattle, Wa.

Judicial career

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals

Nomination Tracker
Nominee Information
Name: M. Margaret McKeown
Court: United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit
Progress
Confirmed 728 days after nomination.
ANominated: March 29, 1996
AABA Rating: Unanimously Well Qualified
Questionnaire:
AHearing: February 4, 1998
QFRs: (Hover over QFRs to read more)
AReported: February 26, 1998
AConfirmed: March 27, 1998
AVote: 80-11
AReturned: October 4, 1996

McKeown was first nominated to the United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit by President Bill Clinton on March 29, 1996, to a seat vacated by Joseph Jerome Farris as Farris assumed senior status. Under Rule XXXI, paragraph six, of the standing rules of the United States Senate, McKeown's nomination was returned to the president on October 4, 1996. President Clinton resubmitted the nomination on January 7, 1997. Hearings on McKeown's nomination were held before the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary on February 4, 1998, and her nomination was reported by U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) on February 26, 1998. McKeown was confirmed on a recorded 80-11 vote of the U.S. Senate on March 27, 1998, and she received her commission on April 8, 1998. McKeown assumed senior status on September 15, 2022.

Noteworthy cases

SCOTUS reverses Ninth Circuit panel in First Amendment monument case (2010)

See also: United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit (Salazar v. Buono)

On April 28, 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed the judgment of a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit. Judge Margaret McKeown delivered the opinion of the circuit panel.

Frank Buono filed a lawsuit in a federal district court seeking to prevent the permanent display of a wooden cross on top of Sunrise Rock in the Mojave National Preserve. Buono argued that the display of the cross on federal property violated the First Amendment. The district court agreed and ordered the cross to be covered, pending further proceedings. During the pendancy of his lawsuit on the merits, Congress designated Sunrise Rock a national memorial and later made Sunrise Rock private property, which Congress eventually exchanged for another parcel of land. Buono filed a motion to prohibit the land swap, which the district court granted. The secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior appealed, arguing that the district court abused its discretion. A three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit, in an opinion by Judge Margaret McKeown, upheld the district court's order, holding that the government failed to demonstrate that the district court's fact findings or legal standards were clearly erroneous. The court further held the government failed to show that the district court made an error in judgment.

Writing for a five-justice majority of the U.S. Supreme Court, Justice Anthony Kennedy reversed the circuit panel.

See also

• United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit

External links

• Search Google News for this topic
• Biography from the Federal Judicial Center

Footnotes

Political offices
Preceded by -	United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit 1998-2022	Succeeded by -