Barbara Milano Keenan

Barbara Louise Milano Keenan (born 1950) is a senior United States circuit judge of United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and a former justice on the Supreme Court of Virginia.

Early life and education

Keenan was born in Vienna, Austria, where her father, a highly decorated World War II veteran, was serving as chief of intelligence operations after the war. She was raised in Northern Virginia. Keenan received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Cornell University in 1971 and her Juris Doctor from George Washington University Law School in 1974. She also earned a Master of Laws degree from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1992.

Professional career

From 1974 to 1976, Keenan was an assistant commonwealth's attorney for Fairfax County, Virginia, before entering private practice, first as a solo practitioner and then as partner in the firm Keenan, Ardis and Roehrenbeck. In 2011, she wrote the foreword to the first volume of Jurist Prudent, the collected opinions of her former Supreme Court of Virginia colleague Sr. Justice Lawrence L. Koontz, Jr. On September 14, 2009, Obama formally nominated Keenan to the Fourth Circuit, On February 26, 2010, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid filed for cloture on Keenan's nomination. The Senate voted 99–0 to invoke cloture on her nomination on March 2, 2010. She was confirmed later that day by a 99–0 vote. She received her commission on March 9, 2010. On March 30, 2020, the Supreme Court denied certiorari, although Justices Thomas, Alito, and Kavanaugh would have granted cert to the case.

Keenan strongly dissented in part in an August 9, 2021 decision which ruled that a charter school's policy to force female students to wear dresses or skirts did not violate Title IX, despite allowing the Title IX lawsuit to continue. Keenan explained "No, this is not 1821 or 1921. It’s 2021. Women serve in combat units of our armed forces. Women walk in space and contribute their talents at the International Space Station. Women serve on our country’s Supreme Court, in Congress, and, today, a woman is Vice President of the United States. Yet, girls in certain public schools in North Carolina are required to wear skirts to comply with the outmoded and illogical viewpoint that courteous behavior on the part of both sexes cannot be achieved unless girls wear clothing that reinforces sex stereotypes and signals that girls are not as capable and resilient as boys."