Federal judicial service

On May 24, 1983, President Ronald Reagan nominated Bowman to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit to fill a seat vacated by Judge J. Smith Henley. The United States Senate confirmed Bowman on July 18, 1983, and he received his commission on July 19, 1983. He served as Chief Judge from 1998 to 1999. He assumed senior status on August 1, 2003.^[2]

Bowman completed the graduate program for judges at the University of Virginia School of Law and received his Master of Laws from the University of Virginia in 1986.

His service to the federal judiciary includes tours of duty on the Criminal Law Committee, the Federal-State Jurisdiction Committee, and the Board of Directors of the Federal Judicial Center. Notably, Bowman authored the Eighth Circuit's opinion in Clinton v. Jones that held the Constitution does not protect the President from federal civil litigation involving actions committed before entering office.^[3] The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment 9–0.

Conservative commentator Ann Coulter clerked for Bowman.^[4]

Possible Supreme Court candidacy

Judge Bowman was on the short list of candidates to fill the United States Supreme Court vacancy created by the retirement of Justice Lewis F. Powell Jr. in 1987.^[5] Bowman was favored for Powell’s seat by North Carolina arch-conservative Jesse Helms.^[6] However, alongside devout Mormon John Clifford Wallace, Bowman was viewed by the Senate’s Democratic majority as the most controversial amongst the thirteen or fourteen nominees proposed by President Reagan after Robert Bork was rejected.^[7] Bowman was viewed as aggressively anti-labor and consistently opposed to the rights of women and prisoners,^[8] and attracted further controversy because he stated that he believed laws against insider trading should be repealed.^[9] White House Chief of Staff Howard Baker heard objections to Bowman from Joe Biden and Robert Byrd on October 26, 1987,^[7] and with Republicans needing Democratic support to prevent a repeat of Bork’s debacle, the seat ultimately went to Judge Anthony Kennedy. Bowman may also have been considered by George H. W. Bush to replace the retired William J. Brennan Jr. in 1990,^[5] although he failed to make the final shortlist for Brennan’s replacement.^[10]