Obituaries : Carl E. McGowan; D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge

Carl E. McGowan, 76, a member of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia since 1963. McGowan was appointed to the federal bench by President John F. Kennedy in 1963. Among his most important decisions was a 1976 ruling that upheld a law enacted by Congress to nullify an agreement between former President Richard M. Nixon and the National Archives that would have prevented the release of many of the ex-President’s papers. More recently McGowan wrote a 1986 opinion that upheld the right of members of Congress to sue in federal court over legislation they had enacted. McGowan’s opinion invalidated a pocket veto by President Reagan of legislation restricting U.S. military aid to El Salvador. In Washington on Monday after what was described only as a brief illness.