Federal Judicial Service
President Clinton nominated Bye to his Eighth Circuit seat on April 22, 1999 to fill a vacancy created by the death in 1998 of Judge John David Kelly, who was Bye's friend and former law partner. "I'm very pleased in the trust the president has placed in me and I'm honored to be able to follow my friend and 30-year law partner into this position," Bye told the Associated Press on the day of his nomination. "But it's unfortunate that this opportunity for me arose from his death."
Although Bye's nomination was unanimously approved by the U.S. Senate's Judiciary Committee on November 17, 1999, his nomination languished because of an impasse between President Clinton and Republicans in the Senate over the president's use of recess appointments. Ultimately, however, the U.S. Senate confirmed Bye to the seat on the Eighth Circuit in a 98-0 vote on February 24, 2000, and he received his commission on March 9, 2000. "The process involved...can be complex at best, certainly at times confusing and at times even frustrating," Bye told his supporters at his June 1, 2000 swearing-in, according to an article on the Associated Press feed on June 2, 2000. But "when it all works out, then it doesn't seem so bad after all."
Read more about this topic: Kermit Edward Bye
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