MSU Adjunct Professor David McKeague was confirmed by the U.S. Senate to a post in the federal Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

McKeague - confirmed on June 9 along with Michigan Court of Appeals Judge Richard Griffin - has been an adjunct professor at the MSU College of Law for seven years, teaching a Federal Jurisdiction class, as well as instructing students on using electronic evidence in court.

The East Lansing resident said he wants to keep teaching along with his duties as a federal judge.

"Fortunately, there's a degree of flexibility," he said. "I anticipate I should be able to balance these two obligations and continue to teach at the law school."

The Senate confirmed him with a 96-0 vote after being renominated in February. McKeague was first nominated for the position by President Bush in November 2001.

"I'm certainly pleased after all these years," he said, referring to the almost four-year wait for Senate confirmation.

The delay occurred because Michigan Democratic Senators Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow blocked McKeague and Griffin as retaliation for the Republicans' refusal to confirm former President Clinton's nominations to the court.

McKeague has served the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan for 13 years. He said he thinks his experience will provide another perspective to other members of the Court of Appeals who don't have that type of experience as a trial judge.

But he said that the delay between President Bush's nominations and the Senate's confirmations have hurt the court.

"The sixth circuit was the most efficient court, and it fell to the least efficient," he said, adding that he thinks the addition of himself and Griffin should help the court get through its backed up list of trials and hearings.