Marsha J. Pechman (born 1951) is a

Senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

United States district judge of the

United States District Court for the Western District of Washington The United States District Court for the Western District of Washington (in case citations, W.D. Wash.) is the federal district court whose jurisdiction comprises the following counties of the state of Washington: Clallam, Clark, Cowlitz, Gray ...

Education and career

Born in Salem,

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

, Pechman received a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

degree from

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...

in 1973 and a

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice l ...

from

Boston University School of Law Boston University School of Law (Boston Law or BU Law) is the law school of Boston University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top law schools in the United States and considered an eli ...

in 1976. She was a legal intern, King County Prosecutor's Office in 1976. She was a deputy prosecutor,

King County Prosecuting Attorney The King County Prosecuting Attorney is a non-partisan elected official in King County, Washington. The Prosecuting Attorney leads the King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office, and prosecutes all felonies (as well as all misdemeanors in unincorpo ...

's Office from 1976 to 1979. She was an instructor/staff attorney of

University of Washington School of Law The University of Washington School of Law is the law school of the University of Washington, located on the northwest corner of the main campus in Seattle, Washington. The 2023 '' U.S. News & World Report'' law school rankings place Washi ...

from 1979 to 1981. She was in private practice in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region o ...

from 1981 to 1988. She was an Adjunct professor, University of Puget Sound from 1983 to 1987. She was a judge on the

King County Superior Court The Superior Court of Washington for King County (more commonly, the King County Superior Court) is the largest trial court in Washington state. It is based at the King County Courthouse, 516 Third Avenue, in downtown Seattle, Washington. It als ...

, Washington, from 1988 to 1999.

Federal judicial service

On March 24, 1999, Pechman was nominated by President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and again ...

to a seat on the

vacated by William L. Dwyer. She was confirmed by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and po ...

on September 8, 1999, and received her commission on September 9, 1999. On September 1, 2011, she became Chief Judge, succeeding Judge

Robert S. Lasnik Robert Stephen Lasnik (born 1951) is an American attorney and jurist, who serves as a Senior status, senior United States federal judge, United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington. Educ ...

. She assumed

senior status Senior status is a form of semi- retirement for United States federal judges. To qualify, a judge in the federal court system must be at least 65 years old, and the sum of the judge's age and years of service as a federal judge must be at leas ...

on February 6, 2016.

Notable case

Pechman is most well known for presiding over the 2008 trial between the City of Seattle and the owners of the

Seattle SuperSonics The Seattle SuperSonics (commonly known as the Seattle Sonics) were an American professional basketball team based in Seattle. The SuperSonics competed in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member club of the league's Western Confe ...

. Pechman sat on the Karnoski v. Trump case for over three years without issuing a decision. Joe Biden eventually repealed the Trump trans soldier ban.

Personal

Pechman has two daughters.

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pechman, Marsha J. 1951 births Living people Boston University School of Law alumni Cornell University alumni Judges of the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington Politicians from Salem, Oregon Superior court judges in the United States United States district court judges appointed by Bill Clinton Lawyers from Salem, Oregon Lawyers from Seattle Washington (state) state court judges 20th-century American judges 21st-century American judges 20th-century American women judges 21st-century American women judges