She entered private legal practice in 1980 and remained there until 1982.[1] In 1982, Aiken worked as a fundraiser and field staffer for Ted Kulongoski's unsuccessful campaign for Governor of Oregon in 1982, and then worked as the chief clerk of the Oregon House of Representatives from 1982 to 1983.[1] Aiken returned to private practice that year and remained there until she became a district judge in Lane County in 1988.[1] Based in Eugene, she then became an Lane County Circuit Court Judge in 1992, remaining on the bench until 1997.[1]
Federal judicial service
President Bill Clinton nominated her to a seat on the United States District Court for the District of Oregon vacated by James A. Redden in November 1995, and again on January 7, 1997.[1] Aiken was confirmed by the United States Senate on January 28, 1998, receiving her commission on February 4, 1998.[1] On February 1, 2009, she became Chief Judge of the Court, the first woman to hold that position in the District of Oregon.[2] She served in that capacity until January 31, 2016.[1] She assumed senior status on December 29, 2023.[2][1]
On October 7, 2015, Judge Aiken resentenced Dwight L. Hammond and his son Steven D. Hammond to five years in prison with credit for time served for federal arson, the mandatory minimum for that crime. The Hammonds had illegally set fires on their ranch which burned 140 acres (57 ha) of federal land. U.S. District Judge Michael R. Hogan had sentenced the Hammonds to 3 months and 1 year in prison respectively, but Judge Aiken ruled that the minimum sentences must be followed.[5] Armed militiamen led by Ammon Bundyoccupied the Malheur Wildlife Refuge near the Hammonds' ranch in protest of the ruling, demanding that the Hammonds be released and that the hundred-year-old wildlife refuge be given over to local control.[6] The defendants in the case were granted a full Presidential pardon by President Donald J. Trump on July 10, 2018.[7]
Judge Aiken made a key decision in the case Juliana v. United States, a suit brought by 21 youths against the U.S. government stating their rights to a clean environment were violated due to actions that the government had taken. While several similar suits at state and federal level had been dismissed, Judge Aiken instead was compelled by the argument that access to a clean environment was a fundamental right, allowing the case to proceed.[8][9] This decision was reversed by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.[10]
Personal
In 1978, Aiken married James Klonoski, a political science professor at the University of Oregon and one-time chair of the Democratic Party of Oregon. Klonoski died in January 2009.[11] They had five children together.
^Thomas, Judy L. (January 6, 2016). "Experts: Oregon standoff may be small, but it's just the tip of a growing militia iceberg". Kansas City Star. Retrieved January 20, 2016. The rally was peaceful, authorities said....But afterward, a group of armed militants split off, went to the wildlife refuge 30 miles away and took it over. Ammon Bundy has been acting as the group's leader, and they say they won't back down until the government relinquishes the federal refuge to the people.
