[2] In mid-1999, President Bill Clinton nominated Stewart to federal district court to fill a seat vacated by Judge John Thomas Greene Jr., who assumed senior status in November 1997.
[5] Clinton did so as a courtesy to Hatch, hoping the gesture would encourage Republican senators to act to confirm many of the president's languishing judicial nominees.
That prompted Republican senators to take the then very rare move of filing for cloture on the nomination of a federal district judge.
[5][6] Two weeks later, Democratic and Republican senators announced a deal that paved the way for votes on the nominations of Stewart and two other judicial nominees.
[2] Stewart made the initial ruling in favor of the terms-of sale restrictions on the easement in the LDS plaza by the Salt Lake Temple.
The lawsuit claimed that a Utah law requiring an age verification system on websites containing pornography violated the First Amendment.