mr. bough's allegations. the commission criticized mr. bough's allegations as -- quote, unquote -- "vague and speculative" and said that any violations which may have occurred were so minor as not to merit consideration. the opinion concluded that mr. bough's complaint had no basis for its allegations and was without merit. so the bottom line here is that the nominee was using a government agency as a tool to harass a political opponent. as i said earlier, that's behavior indicative of a political operative, someone who's just not going to be able to put it all aside and consider cases objectively once he becomes a judge. now, from time to time, some of my colleagues on the judiciary committee have commented that the best evidence for the type of judge a nominee will be is the type of lawyer they have been. so i think there's a lot of wisdom in that view. so with this nominee we know what kind of a lawyer he's been defending an un-savory complaint or representing an unpopular clause is one thing. we expect lawyers to do that. our system, i

mr. leader. ahmadinejad i move to proceed to executive session to consider calendar number 1041, steven bough of missouri. a senator: ask for the yeas and nays. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion to proceed. is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote: vote: the presiding officer: any senators wishing to vote or wishing to change a vote? if not, the ayes are 54, the nays are 42. and the motion to proceed to executive session is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: nomination, the judiciary, stephen r. bough of missouri to be a united states district judge for the western district of missouri. the presiding officer: mr. leader. mr. reid: i ask that it be reported. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the cloture motion. the clerk: cloture motion. we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, hereby move to bring to a close the debate on the nomination of stephen r. bough of missouri to be united states district judge for the western district

mr. president? and the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: nomination, steven bough of missouri to be united states district judge for the western district of missouri. the presiding officer: the senate will be in order. mr. reid: mr. president, was the nomination reported? the presiding officer: yes. mr. reid: we couldn't hear. this will be the last vote of this congress. i ask unanimous consent that the remaining cloture motions with respect to judicial nominations be withdrawn and the senate proceed to vote on the nominations in the order upon which cloture was filed. i ask consent that all time on the bough nomination be yielded back. the presiding officer: is there objection? hearing none, so ordered. the question now occurs on the bough nomination. is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. there is. the clerk will call the roll. vote: vote: any senator wishing to vote or change their vote? the nomination is confirmed. under the previous order, the senate will proceed to the following nominations which the clerk will report. the clerk: nominations the j