Senate votes to confirm Tenth Circuit Judge

The Senate voted 93-0 to confirm Robert Bacharach as the U.S. Circuit Judge for the Tenth Circuit.

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) said that Bacharach, also from Oklahoma, has the two most important qualities he thinks a judge should possess — integrity and knowledge of the Constitution. 

“You cannot find a blemish on this man’s personal integrity,” Coburn said ahead of the vote Monday. “I’ve never met anybody who knew the Constitution and its limitations better than Judge Bacharach.

“This will be the first judge that I will have voted for that I have no doubt of his absolute fidelity to the Constitution.”

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) said that last year’s GOP filibuster against Bacharach “diminished” the federal court system since Bacharach had bipartisan support out of committee.

“Because of this filibuster … the people of Oklahoma, Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming have been needlessly denied his services as a Tenth Circuit Judge for almost eight months,” Leahy said.

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