United States District Court Judge Amul Thapar, who is Chase College of Law jurist-in-residence and teaches a Supreme Court seminar, has been confirmed by the U.S. Senate to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. The vote in late May was 52-44.
President Trump nominated Judge Thapar in mid-March for the seat on the Cincinnati-based appellate court for Kentucky, Ohio, Michigan, and Tennessee that had been vacant since Judge Boyce Martin retired in 2013.
U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, had a lot of praise for Judge Thapar, a judge in the Covington divisional office of the Eastern District of Kentucky, when he was nominated and when he was confirmed.
“Throughout his already impressive career of public service, Amul has shown an incredible intellect and an unshakable dedication to the law,” Mr. McConnell said in a prepared statement when Judge Thapar was nominated. And later: “He will fairly apply the law to all who enter his courtroom because, in Judge Thapar’s own words, ‘the most important attribute of a judge is to be open-minded and not to prejudge a case without reading the briefs, researching the law, and hearing from the parties.’”
Judge Thapar was nominated to the district court by President George W. Bush in 2007, and received his commission in 2008. He previously was U.S. Attorney for the sixty-seven-county Eastern District of Kentucky and an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of Ohio and in the District of Columbia.