New Names Emerge for 9th Circuit Seats (including first ever American Indian)

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Heather Kendall-Miller, Staff attorney, Native American Rights Fund
54 Years Old

Former Alaska delegate, Democratic convention

Former High School drop-out

Has a GED, BA in history, University of Alaska Fairbanks, MA and JD from Harvard University Law School

Non-traditional Harvard buddy of Obama

Assisted in an Exxon Valdez class action lawsuit

Former clerk, Alaska Supreme Court Chief Justice Jay Rabinowitz, appointee of Democratic Gov. William Allen Egan

Argued Native American rights case before the US Supreme Court without anxiety because: "I felt the spirit of the people coming over me."

A lawyer under serious consideration for the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals would, if picked, become the only American Indian currently in the federal judiciary and the first ever to serve on an appellate court, according to sources familiar with the search process.

Heather Kendall-Miller, a staff attorney for the Native American Rights Fund, is in the running to succeed Judge Andrew Kleinfeld for an Alaska-based seat. But Kendall-Miller has some competition from Alaska Supreme Court Justice Morgan Christen, part of a complicated 9th Circuit puzzle the White House is trying to assemble.

Christopher Cameron, a professor at Southwestern Law School, is the leading California contender for a separate seat that has long been in dispute between California and Idaho, multiple sources said. But the administration is also apparently looking for an Idaho nominee, these sources said, because the turf war is still going strong.

http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202463876409