Senators back Keenan for seat on 4th Circuit

By Alan Cooper
Published: June 8, 2009

U.S. Senators Jim Webb and Mark Warner have recommended Virginia Supreme Court Justice Barbara M. Keenan for a seat on the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

If President Obama nominates her and the Senate confirms the nomination, Keenan would be the first woman from Virginia on the 4th Circuit and the second Virginia Supreme Court justice to be appointed to the court.

President Bush appointed then-Justice G. Steven Agee to the 4th Circuit last year.

The 59-year-old Keenan has spent more than half her life on the bench. She was the first judge to serve at all four levels on the state court system.

She was also the first woman general district and circuit judge in the state and was the only woman appointed to the Virginia Court of Appeals when the intermediate appellate court was created in 1985. She was elevated to the Supreme Court in 1991.

“Senator Warner and I jointly recommended Justice Barbara Keenan to serve on the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals based on her exceptional qualifications and comprehensive legal experience in the Commonwealth,” Webb said in a news release. “Justice Keenan has received the highest ratings from leading bar associations, and I know that, if confirmed, she will continue her distinguished record of service in this new capacity.”

She is a graduate of Cornell University and the George Washington University law school.

Keenan began practicing law in 1974 as the first female prosecutor in the office of former Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Robert Horan. She left the prosecutor’s office in 1976 and began a general litigation practice that included about 20 jury criminal trials over the next four years in addition to representation of small business, personal injury and family law clients.

She won the endorsement of the Fairfax Bar Association and the endorsement of the legislative delegation when the general district seat opened up in 1980.

Keenan’s chambers are in Northern Virginia, where she has spent most of her appellate tenure. However, she moved to Virginia Beach in 1993 when she married Virginia Beach Circuit Judge Alan Rosenblatt.

State law required Rosenblatt to live in Virginia Beach while he was on the bench, but he retired about five years ago, and the couple moved to Alexandria because of her mother’s poor health and the terminal illness of her father.

The 4th Circuit has 15 judgeships, although it has never had that many judges sitting.

The court now has four vacancies, and Obama already has nominated U.S. District Judge Andre M. Davis of Baltimore to one of those seats.

The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 16-3 in favor of Davis last Thursday, sending his nomination to the full Senate.

Sen. Kay Hagan, D-N.C., announced last week that she has recommended three candidates for the 4th Circuit to the President.

She did not release their names immediately because she had not told other candidates that they had not been recommended.

Because it is the most populous state in the circuit and now has only resident on the appellate court, two of the seats are expected to be filled by North Carolinians.

Virginia and South Carolina now have three seats and Maryland and West Virginia have two.

The 4th Circuit long had been considered the most conservative of the appellate federal courts, but that reputation is changing.

Five of its 11 members have been appointed by Democrats, and Obama has the opportunity to provide it with a substantial majority of Democratic appointees.

Virginia Lawyers Weekly

Senators back Keenan for seat on 4th Circuit

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