Bush Nominates Payne to the 10th Circuit

President Bush on Thursday nominated James Hardy Payne, a federal district judge for Oklahoma, to serve on the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Since 2001, Payne has been a judge on the U.S. District Court for the northern, eastern and western districts of Oklahoma. Bush nominated Payne, a native of Lubbock, Texas, to that bench.
Payne graduated from the University of Oklahoma in 1963 and earned a law degree from the university in 1966.
After college, Payne served in the Air Force until 1970.
He worked the next three years as an assistant U.S. attorney in Oklahoma and then was in private practice in the state until 1988 when he became U.S. magistrate judge for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma.
The appointment is subject to the Senate's approval.