KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- President Bush on Thursday nominated Missouri Supreme Court Judge Stephen Limbaugh Jr. to fill a vacancy on the federal bench.

Limbaugh would replace U.S. District Court Judge Donald J. Stohr of the U.S. Eastern District Court of Missouri.

The federal trial courts have two districts in Missouri. The Eastern District covers northern, eastern and southeastern Missouri with divisions in Cape Gir-ardeau, Hannibal and St. Louis.

Former governor John Ashcroft appointed Limbaugh to the state high court, where he served as chief justice from 2001 to 2003. He was the prosecuting attorney in Cape Girardeau County from 1979 to 1982, and was appointed circuit judge in 1988 and re-elected in 1990.

Limbaugh's father, Stephen Limbaugh Sr., has been a federal judge in the Eastern Missouri District since 1983.