McShane, 52, is the fifth openly gay federal judge appointed by President Obama -- part of Obama’s goal of increasing the representation of minorities and women on the federal bench. Only one other openly gay federal judge had been confirmed previously in the nation’s history, according to the White House.

McShane's confirmation ends a more than year-long process of interviews, vetting, questioning by senators and waiting. He will be one of two U.S. District Court judges in Eugene when he starts June 3 in the position vacated in 2011 by Michael R. Hogan.





McShane began his legal career in 1988 as a public defender who represented indigent criminal clients but who also was deathly afraid of public speaking. McShane said the responsibility of representing someone else was transformative, and he quickly overcame his paralyzing shyness.

In 1997, McShane was appointed as a judge pro tem -- helping ease the workload on full-fledged judges -- before becoming a full-fledged Multnomah County Circuit judge in 2001. He has sat over a wide-range of criminal, civil, divorce and child-custody cases.





Those cases have included some of the most horrific in county history: defendants who've tortured, raped, molested children and killed by bludgeoning or burning, then -- in one case -- hacking apart or skinning bodies.





McShane has gained a highly respected reputation since he became a lawyer 24 years ago. He grew up in Washington's Tri-Cities and graduated from Lewis & Clark Law School in Portland.





In his new job, which is a lifetime appointment, he will take on larger constitutional questions than he does now about issues such as free speech, the government's power of search and seizure and the Endangered Species Act.





-- Aimee Green



