President Obama will fill a vacancy on the federal court bench in his home state of Hawai'i created by the retirement next month of U.S. District Chief Judge Helen Gillmor.

Federal judges serve for life and the position is widely considered the most influential and important appointed U.S. government job in the Islands.

Gillmor, 66, is retiring from active service at the end of June to become a senior judge, a semi-retired status that includes occasional involvement in the work of the court.

She was appointed to the bench in October 1994 by President Bill Clinton and is the first female judge to serve on the federal bench here. She also is the first female to serve as chief district judge, a position she has held since 2005.

Gillmor has heard a wide range of cases during her tenure on the bench, beginning in 1995 with the criminal trial of Hawaiian rights activist Bumpy Kanahele, who was accused of harboring fellow activist Nathan Brown when Brown was a federal fugitive.

Gillmor also heard the criminal trial of three Wai'anae youths accused of murdering Air Force officer John Latchum Jr. and presided over the criminal cases of former City Councilman Andrew Mirikitani and federal political candidate Dalton Tanonaka.

In a landmark case, Gillmor ruled that non-Hawaiians must be allowed to stand as candidates for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.

More recently, the judge rejected a U.S. Justice Department effort to involuntarily commit convicted sex offender Jay Abregana to a mental institution after he had completed his federal prison sentence. It was the first time the commitment law had been applied in Hawai'i and only the second case of its kind nationally.

Gillmor had been scheduled to preside over the upcoming trial of accused spy Noshir Gowadia, but that case has been delayed because of questions about Gowadia's mental and physical health.

"She is not only an outstanding jurist, but her decision to retire to senior status is going to leave a tremendous hole in the trial calendars," said U.S. Attorney Ed Kubo.

Kubo called Gillmor a "no-nonsense judge who moves her calendar expeditiously. She will be sorely missed by us."

U.S. Sens. Daniel K. Inouye and Daniel Akaka will recommend the names of potential replacements to the Obama administration, which will then nominate a candidate for confirmation by the full Senate. Confirmation hearings are held by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Rae Saint Chu, president of the Hawaii Bar Association, said a committee to screen applicants is being formed. Four members of the committee are appointed by Inouye, three by Akaka and two by the bar association, she said.

The head of the committee is Inouye appointee Lawrence Okinaga, a private attorney. The group will hold its first meeting next week with Akaka in attendance, according to Jennifer Goto Sabas, head of Inouye's office here.

Federal law allows judges to assume senior status when the combination of their age and years of service adds up to 80.

Gillmor is a graduate of Queen's College of the City University of New York and received her law degree from Boston University.

She was a law clerk for Hawai'i Supreme Court Chief Justice William Richardson and worked as a private attorney, deputy public defender and per diem state judge before her appointment as a federal jurist.

There are two other senior judges in Hawai'i now — Samuel P. King and Alan Kay.

District judges in Hawai'i are David Ezra, Susan Oki Mollway and J. Michael Seabright.

Other federal appointments still to be made by Obama in Hawai'i are the U.S. attorney and U.S. marshal.