Mary Murguia, former Clinton Justice Department official, nominated for U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals

L.A. Times
March 26, 2010

President Obama has nominated Arizona federal trial court Judge Mary H. Murguia to serve on the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, the court announced Friday.

Murguia, 49, has served for the last decade as a federal district judge and previously held senior positions in the U.S. attorney's office for Arizona during the Clinton administration.

During her tenure on the trial court bench, Murguia issued rulings that halted a Bush administration attempt to remove protections for desert nesting bald eagles in the state, and that doubled the damages to be paid to a New Jersey surgical supplies innovator after an Arizona company was found to have infringed its patent rights.

Murguia, a native of Kansas, is the twin sister of Janet Murguia, a former Clinton advisor and head of the National Council of La Raza, the nation's largest Latino civil rights advocacy group.

-- Carol J. Williams

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