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Ryan Bounds
Ryan Wesley Bounds is an assistant U.S. attorney in the District of Oregon. On September 7, 2017, Bounds was nominated to a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit by President Donald Trump (R).[1][2][3][4] His nomination was withdrawn on July 19, 2018.[5]
Early life and education
An Oregon native, Bounds earned his bachelor's degree in psychology and political science from Stanford University in 1995. Bounds graduated from Stanford with honors and distinction and as a Phi Beta Kappa graduate. During a period of his undergraduate studies, he was an editor of The Stanford Review and was the founding editor of The Thinker. Bounds graduated from Yale Law School with his J.D. in 1999. During a period of his legal studies, he served as editor-in-chief of the Yale Law and Policy Review. He was also an editor-in-chief of a 1998 Federalist Society symposium issue of the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy. He was also an editor of the Yale Law Journal and vice-president of the Yale Federalist Society.[1][4][6]
Professional career
- 2010 - Present: Assistant U.S. attorney, District of Oregon
- 2008-2009: Special assistant to the president for domestic policy, The White House
- 2007-2008; 2009: Special assistant U.S. attorney, District of Columbia
- 2004-2007: Deputy assistant attorney general and chief of staff, office of legal policy, U.S. Department of Justice
- 2000-2004: Private practice, Portland, Ore.
- 1999-2000: Law clerk, Hon. Diarmuid O'Scannlain, United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit[1][4]
Federal judicial nomination
- See also: Federal judges nominated by Donald Trump
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
 |
| Nominee Information |
| Name: Ryan Wesley Bounds |
| Court: United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit |
| Progress |
| Withdrawn 315 days after nomination. |
 Nominated: September 7, 2017
|
| ABA Rating: Unanimously Qualified
|
| Questionnaire: Questionnaire |
| Hearing: May 9, 2018
|
| QFRs: (Hover over QFRs to read more) |
| Reported: June 7, 2018
|
 Confirmed:
|
| Withdrawn: July 19, 2018
|
Bounds was nominated by President Donald Trump (R) on September 7, 2017, to a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit vacated by Diarmuid O'Scannlain. The American Bar Association rated Bounds Unanimously Qualified for the nomination. Hearings on Bounds' nomination were held before the Senate Judiciary Committee on May 9, 2018, and his nomination was reported out of committee on June 7, 2018, by a 11-10 vote.[1][2][7][8] His nomination was withdrawn on July 19, 2018, following criticism of Bounds' previous writings.[5]
Nomination withdrawn
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) announced Bounds' withdrawal on July 19, 2018. Bounds would have been the 24th appeals court judge and the 45th federal judge nominated by President Donald Trump (R) to be confirmed.[9]
The withdrawal came after Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) announced that he needed more information before he could support Bounds' nomination, saying, "The information that I had was insufficient for me to be a 'yes' vote, and therefore I was looking for more information that I had not yet been provided with." Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said he supported Scott's decision and indicated that he would also vote against the nominee.[10]
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said that the nominee was withdrawn because there were "objections raised that couldn’t be resolved in the short time we had, and so the White House decided to withdraw the nomination rather than have the nominee fail."[10]
Senate Judiciary Chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) disagreed with Bounds' withdrawal, saying he "is eminently qualified." U.S Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.) also said Bounds "didn't deserve this outcome."[11]
Opposition to Bounds' nomination
Bounds' home state senators, Ron Wyden (D) and Jeff Merkley (D) indicated in a letter to White House counsel Don McGahn that they would withhold their blue slips on Bounds' nomination. The senators wrote,[12]
| “ |
We are writing today to inform you that, as previously communicated, in order to properly serve the interests of Oregonians we cannot return a blue slip on any judicial nominee that has not been approved by our bipartisan judicial selection committee. As you are aware, in May, we wrote you to explain Oregon's long bipartisan tradition of working together to identify the most qualified candidates for judicial vacancies. As Senators charged with the task of advice and consent in the selection of candidates, we take our responsibility to identify and recommend candidates to fill Oregon judicial vacancies very seriously. We have a long history of organizing a committee charged with thoroughly vetting applicants from the Oregon legal community. At that time, we communicated our intent to begin our selection process with the goal of providing you with a list of names for you to consider. We encouraged you to direct all potential nominees to our selection committee. ... Unfortunately, it is now apparent that you never intended to allow our longstanding process to play out. Instead, you have demonstrated that you were only interested in our input if we were willing to preapprove your preferred nominee. Disregarding this Oregon tradition returns us to the days of nepotism and patronage that harmed our courts and placed unfit judges on the bench. The judicial selection process is not a rubber stamp, and the insinuation that our offices were purposefully delaying the process is an indication of the partisanship with which you are pursuing this nomination.[13] |
” |
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 The White House, "President Donald J. Trump announces seventh wave of judicial candidates," September 7, 2017
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 United States Congress, "PN 987 — Ryan Wesley Bounds — The Judiciary," accessed September 9, 2017
- ↑ The White House, "Nine nominations sent to the Senate today," September 7, 2017
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 National Review, "Who is Ryan Bounds?" September 7, 2017
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 NPR, "Appeals Court Nomination Withdrawn Before An Expected Failure On Senate Floor," July 19, 2018
- ↑ Pioneer Courthouse Historical Society, "Members of the Board of Pioneer Courthouse Historical Society," accessed September 9, 2017
- ↑ American Bar Association, "Ratings of Article III and Article IV judicial nominees, 115th Congress," accessed October 24, 2017
- ↑ Senate Judiciary Committee, "Results of Executive Business Meeting," June 7, 2018
- ↑ The Hill, "Controversial Trump judicial nominee withdraws," July 19, 2018
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 ABC News, "GOP senators force White House to withdraw Trump's pick for ninth circuit," July 19, 2018
- ↑ The Oregonian, "Nomination of controversial Oregon prosecutor withdrawn for 9th Circuit seat," July 19, 2018
- ↑ U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, "Letter to Don McGahn," September 7, 2017
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
