Judicial nominees from Oklahoma headed for U.S. Senate committee vote

The Senate Judiciary Committee has placed the names of Robert E. Bacharach, nominated for a seat on the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and John E. Dowdell, nominated for a district judge post in Tulsa, on the agenda for its Thursday meeting.

Bacharach, a federal magistrate judge in Oklahoma City, and Dowdell, a Tulsa attorney, were questioned by committee members on May 9, and both breezed through the hearing. If the two are approved by the committee, the full Senate must approve their nominations.

Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, a committee member who did not attend the hearing, sent written questions to each about their general philosophies and about some specifics.

Grassley asked Bacharach about three cases in which prison inmates sued corrections employees. Grassley said the cases appeared to be “frivolous and harassing” and noted that district judges had rejected Bacharach's recommendations and dismissed the cases.

In reply, Bacharach said exhibits and legal arguments were presented by the defendants in two of the cases after he made his report.

“Although I respect the district judges' contrary decisions, I continue to believe that my analysis in all three cases was correct based on the briefs and evidence that had been presented to me,” he wrote.