Ryan Bounds

Ryan Wesley Bounds (born 1973) is an American attorney serving as an Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Oregon. Bounds had been a nominee for a position as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Ryan Bounds
Ryan Bounds in 2018
Born
Ryan Wesley Bounds

1973 (age 49–50)[1]
Umatilla, Oregon, U.S.
EducationStanford University (BA)
Yale Law School (JD)
RelativesTucker Bounds (brother)[2]

Already controversial,[3] the nomination narrowly lost bipartisan support for confirmation in the Senate when it was revealed that, as an undergraduate, Bounds wrote columns criticizing outrage over vandalism of a gay pride statue,[4] arguing student efforts to promote racial diversity in fact entrench racial intolerance,[5] suggesting multicultural campus groups were in reality an effort to extort the university,[6] and asserting "there is nothing really inherently wrong with the University failing to punish an alleged rapist—regardless his guilt—in the absence of adequate certainty,"[7] among other things. In July 2018, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced that the president would withdraw the nomination.[8]

Biography

Bounds earned his Bachelor of Arts in psychology and political science, with honors and distinction, from Stanford University in 1995 and his Juris Doctor from Yale Law School in 1999, where he was an editor of the Yale Law Journal and editor-in-chief of the Yale Law & Policy Review.

Early in his career, Bounds served as a law clerk to Judge Diarmuid O'Scannlain on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit from 1999 to 2000. In 2000, he was hired as an associate at the law firm of Stoel Rives LLP in Portland, Oregon.[9] In 2004, he was hired by the United States Department of Justice as a Deputy Assistant Attorney General and Chief of Staff in the Office of Legal Policy. In 2008, he became a Special Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy, acting as the White House's primary policy expert on criminal and civil justice issues. Before becoming a special prosecutor he served as Special Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Columbia. Since 2010, he has served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Oregon, where he prosecutes criminal cases on behalf of the United States.[10]

Failed nomination to U.S. Court of Appeals

On September 7, 2017, President Trump nominated Bounds to serve as a United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, to the seat vacated by Judge Diarmuid O'Scannlain, who assumed senior status on December 31, 2016.[11]

One week after Bounds was nominated, both of Oregon's U.S. Senators, Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, announced they would not return the Senate Blue slips for Bounds, saying they had not been adequately consulted on the nomination. The White House Counsel's Office said that it had contacted both senators on several occasions before nominating Bounds, but received very little feedback from either senator.[12]

On January 3, 2018, Bounds's nomination was returned to the President under Rule XXXI, Paragraph 6 of the United States Senate.[13] On January 5, 2018, President Donald Trump announced his intent to renominate Bounds to a federal judgeship.[14] On January 8, 2018, his renomination was sent to the Senate.[15] In February 2018, the bipartisan commission cited by Wyden and Merkley found Bounds to be one of four suitable applicants for the judgeship.[16] However, the Senators continued to refuse to turn in their blue slips, citing college newspaper articles Bounds wrote while a student at Stanford University in the early 1990s.[17]

Prior to his nomination, Bounds did not disclose controversial columns written by him in The Stanford Review about campus sexual assault, workers' rights, ethnic minorities and gender discrimination to the Oregon judicial selection committee convened by the state's congressional delegation. Bounds said he was instructed to provide only material dating back to law school to the selection committee by a staffer of Senator Ron Wyden, who had helped to convene the commission. He did, however, provide those writings to the Senate Committee on the Judiciary.[18] Subsequent to public disclosure of Bounds' college writings, five of the seven members of the Oregon selection committee indicated that had they seen those writings, they would not have recommended Bounds as a candidate for the vacancy.[19] During his confirmation hearing, Bounds apologized for the writings, saying "I share the concerns of many that the rhetoric I used in debating campus politics back in the early '90s on Stanford's campus was often overheated, overbroad" and that his views were "not as respectful" as they should have been.[20] Senator Ron Wyden said he didn't believe in the sincerity of Bounds' apology, feeling it was intended only to secure his confirmation. "Nominees for the federal bench must be held to a higher standard," he said.[19]

On May 9, 2018, a hearing on his nomination was held before the Senate Judiciary Committee.[21] On June 7, 2018, his nomination was reported out of committee by an 11–10 vote.[22] On July 18, 2018, the United States Senate invoked cloture on his nomination by a 50–49 vote.[23] On July 19, 2018, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced that Bounds's nomination would be withdrawn after Senator Tim Scott, a Republican, announced he could not support the nomination with the information he had at that point; Scott's stance left Bounds's nomination short of the number of votes needed for confirmation.[24][25] On July 24, 2018, Bounds' nomination was officially withdrawn.[26]

Memberships

Bounds has been a member of the Federalist Society since approximately 2000.[1]

See also

References
  1. "Questionnaire for Judicial Nominees" (PDF). judiciary.senate.gov. Retrieved June 30, 2018.
  2. McDowell, Jade (April 28, 2017). "Hermiston grad keeps Walden's schedule running smoothly". East Oregonian. Retrieved January 3, 2018.
  3. Bernstein, Maxine (June 7, 2018). "Nomination of Oregon prosecutor Ryan Bounds to 9th Circuit heading to full Senate". oregonlive. Retrieved November 8, 2019.
  4. "Rao & Bounds: Similar Statements Demand Same Scrutiny". Alliance for Justice. Retrieved November 8, 2019.
  5. "Trump appeals court nominee yanked over racially insensitive writings". Reuters. July 19, 2018. Retrieved November 8, 2019.
  6. Kucinich, Andrew Desiderio|Jackie (July 19, 2018). "GOP Sen. Tim Scott Sinks Trump Nominee Over Past Racist Writings". Retrieved November 8, 2019.
  7. Zhou, Li (July 19, 2018). "A Republican helped sink one of Trump's court nominees over his racist college writings". Vox. Retrieved November 8, 2019.
  8. Byrnes, Jesse (July 19, 2018). "Controversial Trump judicial nominee withdraws". TheHill. Retrieved July 19, 2018.
  9. "Ryan Bounds: Controversial Trump Judicial Nominee Withdraws Before Senate Vote". July 19, 2018.
  10. "President Donald J. Trump Announces Seventh Wave of Judicial Candidates". whitehouse.gov. September 7, 2017. Retrieved September 7, 2017 – via National Archives.
  11. "Nine Nominations Sent to the Senate Today". whitehouse.gov. September 7, 2017. Retrieved September 9, 2017 – via National Archives.
  12. "White House hits back at Oregon's senators over appeals court nomination". September 19, 2017.
  13. "Congressional Record". www.congress.gov.
  14. "President Donald J. Trump Announces Renomination of 21 Judicial Nominees". whitehouse.gov – via National Archives.
  15. "Nominations Sent to the Senate Today". whitehouse.gov – via National Archives.
  16. "Merkley and Wyden letter to the White House" (PDF).
  17. Bernstein, Maxine (February 12, 2018). "Oregon's U.S. senators say federal prosecutor Ryan Bounds unsuitable for 9th Circuit vacancy". The Oregonian. Retrieved March 8, 2018.
  18. Whelan, Ed (May 7, 2018). "Beyond the Bounds of Fairness". National Review. Retrieved July 25, 2018.
  19. Democratic senators blast Oregon prosecutor's judicial nomination on Senate floor, The Oregonian, Maxine Bernstein, July 17, 2018. Retrieved July 18, 2018.
  20. Flynn, Meagan (May 10, 2018). "A Trump judicial nominee apologizes for controversial articles mocking multiculturalism". Washington Post. Retrieved July 18, 2018.
  21. "Nominations - United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary". www.judiciary.senate.gov.
  22. "Results of Executive Business Meeting – June 7, 2018, Senate Judiciary Committee" (PDF).
  23. "On the Cloture Motion (Motion to Invoke Cloture Ryan Wesley Bounds to be U.S. Circuit Judge for the Ninth Circuit)". www.senate.gov. Retrieved July 19, 2018.
  24. "White House withdraws judicial nominee Ryan Bounds, after GOP realizes he didn't have votes for confirmation". Washington Post. Retrieved July 19, 2018.
  25. Bendery, Jennifer (July 19, 2018). "Republican Tim Scott Tanks One Of Trump's Judicial Nominees". Huffington Post. Retrieved July 19, 2018.
  26. "Two Nominations and One Withdrawal Sent to the Senate Today". whitehouse.gov. Retrieved July 24, 2018 – via National Archives.

Controversial writings by Bounds
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