Seattle Lawyer Gets Nomination Gop Could Use Clinton’s Appeals Court Pick In Campaign

After months of delay, the White House Friday nominated Seattle trial attorney M. Margaret McKeown to a coveted seat on the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

McKeown, 44, faces a possibly bumpy ride in getting Senate Judiciary Committee approval and winning confirmation from the Republican-controlled Senate.

“We are in a political year,” said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash. “Every candidate is potentially an election issue. I hope we can keep Margaret out of that. She deserves better.”

“It’s an honor to be considered,” McKeown said. “I’ll just leave it at that.”

If confirmed, McKeown will take the place of Judge Jerome Farris, and be one of five judges of the 29-member, San Francisco-based appellate court to have offices in Seattle.

In recent days, Republicans signaled that they will use judicial appointments in an effort to question President Clinton’s credentials as a crime fighter.

McKeown has achieved wide recognition for her legal work, but is sure to be questioned about her civic activism.

She is a specialist in intellectual property law and has practiced extensively in the federal courts, recently arguing successfully before the U.S. Supreme Court. She was named in “Top Players in High-Tech Intellectual Property” by the National Law Journal and is a past winner of the Seattle-King County Bar Association’s annual outstanding lawyer award.

McKeown has served as an officer of the Corporate Council for the Arts as well as the Washington Council on International Trade. In 1992 she was active in a business and professional group that supported President Clinton’s campaign.

McKeown served during the 1980s on the legal committee of the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington. She was a volunteer lawyer in an ACLU case that challenged the right of the King and Clallam county jails to conduct strip searches of women inmates.

In 1994, McKeown argued unsuccessfully for groups seeking a court injunction to stop state certification of two anti-gay-rights initiatives.