She was appointed chief judge by President Donald Trump on March 13, 2017[3] and assumed senior status on July 13, 2018, and retired in 2019.

[4] In private practice, Braden also represented a wide variety of client interests before almost every major department and federal agency, testified before the United States Congress on a variety of matters, and was a principal advocate of the Emergency Oil and Steel Loan Guarantee Act of 1999, which established a $1 billion federal loan guarantee program to assist bankrupt and troubled steel mills and small oil companies.

[2] On January 7, 2003, Braden was nominated by President George W. Bush to a fifteen-year term on the United States Court of Federal Claims.

On October 22, 2004, she was inducted as a Senior Fellow of the ABA's Administrative Law and Regulatory Section by Justice O'Connor at a ceremony held at the United States Supreme Court.

On February 7, 2012, Braden was appointed as Chair of the American Bar Association's Section of Intellectual Property Law Task Force on the creation of a Small Patent Claims Court.

[4] On March 13, 2017, Braden was appointed chief judge of the United States Court of Federal Claims by President Donald Trump.

[5] In December 2019, President Trump announced his intent to appoint Braden to the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board.