Chief Judge McKinney was nominated as federal judge for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana in 1987, and assumed his duties as Chief Judge on January 1, 2001. He is a current member of the Judicial Conference on the Administration of the Bankruptcy System (2001-present), and was a Participant in the Moscow Jury Trial Conference for the Russian-American Judicial Partnership II Project in November, 2003 in Moscow. Prior to being confirmed as a federal judge, Judge McKinney was elected Judge of Johnson County Circuit Court, and served in private practice and with the Indiana Attorney General's Office.