Ninth Circuit Nomination and Confirmation
Judge McKeown was nominated for a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit by President Bill Clinton on March 29, 1996 and then renominated by Clinton on January 7, 1997. McKeown was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on March 27, 1998 by a vote of 80-11. She is currently duty stationed in San Diego, California. Judge McKeown is on the Board of the Federal Judges Association.
On September 6, 2007, Judge Margaret McKeown penned a judgment (for a three-judge panel) which affirmed a lower court ruling that banned display of the Sunrise Rock cross in the Preserve. She ruled that it was an impermissible governmental endorsement of religion: the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution bars the government from favoring any one religion, as it specifically applied to a white metal Latin cross in the Mojave National Preserve in southern California between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. The United States Supreme Court has granted writs to review this decision.
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