what your potential interests are. >> reporter: which brings us back to bp and why it would like judge hughes to oversee the oil spill lawsuits. bp told us quote bp believes that judge lynn hughes to whom the first filed ferd case in houston was assigned is an appropriate choice to provide oversight on these cases. >> this isn't a rank and file case. this is the biggest oil disaster in the history of the country where we ought to be especially concerned about public confidence in the judiciary. >> reporter: cnn examined his rulings on oil and gas cases going back three years and ruled in favor of energy companies just a little more often than against them. people who know him say he is fair and tough but environmental attorneys say even the request by bp to have this judge sit on the bench is quote outrachings and unseemly." abbie boudreau, cnn, atlanta.