ATLANTA - A veteran prosecutor who led the federal government's case against former Atlanta Mayor Bill Campbell was nominated Thursday to become the next U.S. attorney for the bustling Northern District of Georgia.

If confirmed by Congress, Sally Quillian Yates would become the first female U.S. attorney for the district, which includes divisions in Atlanta, Rome, Gainesville and Newnan. She has been the office's interim head since David Nahmias stepped down in August after he was appointed to the Georgia Supreme Court.

President Barack Obama announced the nomination of Yates and six other U.S. attorney candidates across the nation in a press release. He said the candidates "have not only the legal experience and aptitude, but the commitment to public service to make exemplary United States Attorneys."

Yates graduated from the University of Georgia School of Law in 1986 and worked for the Atlanta law firm King & Spalding before joining the U.S. Attorney's Office in 1989. Five years later, she became the chief of the office's fraud and public corruption unit, and in 2002 she became a top aide to the U.S. Attorney.

She handled some of the office's most high-profile cases as she rose through the ranks, including the 2006 trial of Campbell, who was convicted of tax evasion charges. Campbell was sentenced to 30 months in prison after an eight-week trial.

Yates also played a key role on the team of prosecutors that investigated the aftermath of the 1996 Olympic Park Bombing, which eventually led them to Eric Robert Rudolph, who pleaded guilty to four bombings in exchange for life sentences without parole.

She oversaw the fraud case against former state schools superintendent Linda Schrenko and handled dozens of public corruption and fraud cases. Schrenko, who ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2002, was sentenced to eight years in federal prison in 2006 on charges of stealing more than $600,000 in federal education money.

Kent Alexander, a former U.S. attorney who worked with Yates on some of the office's high-profile cases, called Yates "one of the best trial attorneys in the city."

"Most people - except for people on the opposite side of the courtroom - are happy to see her get this position," said Alexander, who is now general counsel at Emory University.

Yates, who is now primed to head a staff of more than 80 prosecutors, said in a statement she was honored by the nomination.

"It would be a great privilege to serve the people of the Northern District as U.S. Attorney," she said.