Robert E. Bacharach - CONFIRMED

Nominee to the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit

On January 23, 2012, President Obama nominated Judge Robert E. Bacharach to the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.  Judge Bacharach currently serves as a United States Magistrate Judge for the Western District of Oklahoma, where he has sat since 1999.  President Obama has said that “I am confident Judge Robert E. Bacharach…will serve the American people with integrity and distinction.” Sens. Tom Coburn (R-OK) and James Inhofe (R-OK) have both publicly pledged their support for Judge Bacharach.

Biography

Robert Edwin Bacharach was born in 1959 in Clarksdale, Mississippi.  He received his B.A. from the University of Oklahoma in 1981, graduating with high honors, and received his J.D. from Washington University School of Law in 1985, graduating Order of the Coif (top 10% of graduating class).  Upon receiving his law degree, Judge Bacharach clerked for two years for Judge William J. Holloway, Jr. on the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals.

For twelve years, from 1987-1999, Judge Bacharach worked in private practice for the Oklahoma firm of Crowe & Dunlevy, first as an associate, and starting in 1994, as a shareholder.  He left the firm in 1999, and became a Federal Magistrate Judge for the Western District of Oklahoma, where he remains today.

Legal Experience

During his tenure at Crowe & Dunlevy, Judge Bacharach primarily practiced commercial litigation, and focused on antitrust and franchising.  He also worked on many ERISA cases. 

As a Magistrate Judge, Judge Bacharach has presided over thousands of civil and criminal matters, hundreds of settlement negotiations, and hundreds of misdemeanor proceedings.  He has handled matters ranging from Fourth Amendment claims of excessive force to Fifth Amendment Double Jeopardy Clause issues to claims arising under the Fair Labor Standards Act to issues involving the rights of foreign citizens under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. 

To cite but a few of his opinions, in Walck v. Edmondson, Bacharach granted habeas relief to a defendant headed to retrial, intervening to prevent a violation of the Fifth Amendment’s Double Jeopardy Clause. Though the rule that allowed Judge Bacharach to intervene in this case had not yet been recognized by the Tenth Circuit, that court later adopted the rule according to Judge Bacharach’s Walck opinion.  In Kishore v. FBI, an Austrian citizen brought a civil rights action under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations claiming that two agents had failed to notify him of his right to consular notification after his arrest. Judge Bacharach ruled, however, that the agents had in fact orally advised the plaintiff of such rights.

Judge Bacharach also has a stellar record of helping parties reach settlements, even in complex cases such as Pierce v. Gilchrist. In Pierce, a man sentenced to 65 years in prison was exonerated by D.N.A. testing after serving twelve years of his sentence.  Judge Bacharach conducted a day-long judicial settlement conference and the case did not go to trial.    

Professional and Academic Activities

Judge Bacharach was admitted to the Oklahoma bar in 1985, and has been admitted to practice before the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals in 1986 and the Supreme Court in 1989.  He has also chaired the Local Civil Rules Committee and the Criminal Justice Act Committee for the Western District of Oklahoma.  He has also served as the national Vice-President for the Tenth Circuit for the Federal Bar Association since 2007.

Judge Bacharach also has taught Civil Pretrial Litigation at the University of Oklahoma School of Law, has been a director and executive committee member of Big Brothers Big Sisters, and has served on the board of directors of the Oklahoma Bar Association’s “Lawyers Helping Lawyers” Foundation, which seeks to mentor attorneys who are struggling with personal issues such as alcoholism, drug dependency, and depression.

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