Spokane native is first woman U.S. attorney for Eastern Washington

Vanessa Waldref will be the first woman to lead the U.S. attorney’s office in Spokane after the Senate confirmed the Spokane native Thursday.

President Joe Biden nominated Waldref in July as U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Washington, which covers the state east of the Cascades.

The nation’s 93 U.S. attorneys are responsible for federal criminal prosecutions in their respective districts.

While working as a trial attorney in the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, Waldref helped win a $3.2 million fraud settlement from a major contractor on the cleanup of the Hanford nuclear reservation.

The case followed a whistleblower complaint that alleged the contractor was not directing subcontracts to women-owned or other disadvantaged businesses as required by the Department of Energy.

Nick Brown, the first African American U.S. Attorney for the Western District, was also confirmed this week.

“I’m thrilled to see the Senate confirm these two historic and highly qualified candidates for Washington’s Western and Eastern District Attorneys,” said Senator Patty Murray in a news released.

“Both of them have already demonstrated an outstanding commitment to public service, and they will continue to play critical roles on a range of different legal issues, from racial justice to climate change, and more. I know both of these historic appointees have the experience and perspective needed to face these challenges head on, and I am confident that they will work diligently to pursue justice for the people of our state.”

Sen. Maria Cantwell also praised the appointments of the two attorneys she and Murray recommended to Biden earlier this year.

“They are both highly-qualified individuals, dedicated to enforcing the rule of law and civil rights, who will represent the diversity of our state in the federal courts,” said Cantwell in a news release.

After growing up in northeast Spokane, Waldref earned bachelor’s and law degrees from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., before returning home to serve as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Eastern District from 2013 to 2020.

She has worked in the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division since 2020 and has taught as an adjunct professor at Gonzaga Law School since 2015.

Waldref defended rules issued by the Environmental Protection Agency and handles Clean Water Act and Clean Air Act issues.

She previously spent seven years handling civil and criminal cases as an assistant U.S. attorney in Spokane, including successfully defending an ecosystem restoration project in the Colville National Forest that involved rebuilding roads, improving fish habitat and thinning trees.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.