 According to available financial records, which dated to 1999, Judge Payne also had participated in cases in which he held stock in affected companies while he was serving as a magistrate judge in the Eastern District Court of Oklahoma.This information was not discovered during the review of his nomination as a federal district judge to the seat for the three districts in Oklahoma.As a result of the "Salon" article and questions raised, the American Bar Association on February 21 re-evaluated Judge Payne's nomination and downgraded their original judicial rating of him from "well qualified" to "qualified".