NORMAN, Okla.—Judge Robert Henry was formally installed Friday as chief judge of the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals at ceremonies attended by current and former Supreme Court justices.
The ceremony on the University of Oklahoma campus capped a weeklong series of events surrounding the Denver-based court in which panels of appellate judges heard oral arguments in Norman and Oklahoma City and Justice Stephen Breyer and retired Justice Sandra Day O’Connor made public appearances.
Henry, cousin of Gov. Brad Henry, was nominated to the 10th Circuit by President Bill Clinton in 1994. The court serves six states: Oklahoma, Kansas, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming and Utah.
A graduate of OU’s College of Law, Henry served in the state House of Representatives from 1975 to 1986. He was state attorney general from 1987 to 1991 and dean of the Oklahoma City University law school from 1991 to 1994.
In 2005, Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist appointed Henry as chair of the Judicial Conference Committee on International Judicial Relations.
As chief judge, Henry will oversee administration of the court, have a key role in misconduct complaints against federal judges in the six states and become a member of the Judicial Conference of the United States, the policy-making body for the federal court system. The chief justice heads the judicial conference.
Chief judges typically serve one seven-year term. Henry, 53, replaces Judge Deanell Reece Tacha of Lawrence, Kan. Henry becomes chief judge because he is the most senior of the eligible active judges after Tacha.
