A new federal judge for the eastern district of Washington, centered in Spokane, has been confirmed by a unanimous vote of the U.S. Senate. He's 56-year old Stanley Bastian, managing partner of a Wenatchee law firm and a former president of the Washington State Bar Association.

Bastian takes over a seat which has been vacant for just under two full years, in a court district flooded with new cases - more than 1,200 of them filed last year alone. District Judge Edward Shea held the seat until the summer of 2012 when he took senior status, the judicial equivalent of semi-retirement.

Bastian was born in Seattle and raised in Portland. He earned his bachelor's degree from the University of Oregon and his law degree from the University of Washington in 1093. His nomination was in a package of several judicial nominees which had been held up in the Senate by Republican opposition.

When senators voted on whether to break what's called a filibuster- but which is really a procedural tactic of opposition, both Idaho senators voted against the motion, which prevailed on a 55-to-41 majority. But when Bastian's confirmation vote came up Wednesday, Republican senators, including Mike Crapo and Jim Risch of Idaho, voted for him with no dissenting votes.

Bastian's confirmation leaves the eastern district of Washington, which includes nearly all areas east of the Cascades, with just one vacancy. Salvador Mendoza, now a state judge in Benton and Franklin Counties, has been nominated for that seat.