By a close vote of 49-46 along party lines, the U.S. Senate on Tuesday confirmed Michael Truncale to be a U.S. district judge for the Eastern District of Texas in Beaumont.

Truncale, 62, has worked his entire legal career at Orgain Bell & Tucker in Beaumont, where he’s a partner. He’s an arbitrator and mediator and also practices civil defense in federal and state courts in the areas of energy, transportation, products liability and more, according to the profile on his firm’s site. He serves as local counsel in patent litigation in the Eastern District and has been a mediator in more than 2,000 cases in the Eastern District and in state courts.