During the confirmation process, I kept a daily diary. Here are some entries following my April 1, 1998, nomination. These entries, which appear here substantially as written at the time (with some supplementation), are only a small portion of the whole. For almost two years I made calls and met with people, seeking support for my confirmation on a daily basis, weekends included. I replicate the diary entries to give a sense of the uncertainty and chaos of the rollercoaster ride as it unfolded. As far as I know, there is no similar published record of such an experience. There are 785 days between my nomination and my confirmation on May 24, 2000. The median waiting time for circuit court confirmation during the Clinton presidency was about 140 days.

April 8, 1998: The White House tells me that Hatch (the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee) and John Podesta (then deputy chief of staff) do not get along.

April 12, 1998: Hatch and Lott (the majority leader) also have tensions between them. Republican Senators Ashcroft and Sessions are Lott's eyes and ears on the Judiciary Committee. Lott does not want to move too fast with nominations.

April 16, 1998: Colby May, associated with the Christian Coalition and the lawyer for Trinity Broadcasting, agrees to help with my confirmation. For the first time, I hear that my wife Sally is a problem because of Republicans’ concerns about regulatory reform.

May 5, 1998: The ABA letter concerning my nomination is released. It rates me “qualified” rather than “well qualified.” The primary reason, as later explained to me privately by an ABA committee member, is that a district court judge that I appeared before said that I screamed at him in court. That is not my style, and it never happened. I assume that this was a Cleveland district judge who sat on one of the firm's cases and was unhappy with my predecessor's attitude toward him before I took over the case. In fact, I had never met the judge nor been in the judge's courtroom.