Ryan Bounds

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.{{cite web | url=https://heavy.com/news/2018/07/ryan-bounds/ | title=Ryan Bounds: Controversial Trump Judicial Nominee Withdraws Before Senate Vote | website=Heavy.com | date=July 19, 2018 }} 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.{{cite web|url=https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2017/09/07/president-donald-j-trump-announces-seventh-wave-judicial-candidates|title=President Donald J. Trump Announces Seventh Wave of Judicial Candidates|date=September 7, 2017|via=National Archives|work=whitehouse.gov|access-date=September 7, 2017}}

On September 7, 2017, President Donald 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.{{cite web |date=September 7, 2017 |title=Nine Nominations Sent to the Senate Today |url=https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2017/09/07/nine-nominations-sent-senate-today |access-date=September 9, 2017 |work=whitehouse.gov |via=National Archives}}

One week after Bounds was nominated, both of Oregon's U.S. Senators, Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, announced they would not return the 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.{{cite web|first=Maxine|last=Bernstein|url=http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2017/09/white_house_hits_back_at_orego.html#incart_river_index_topics|title=White House hits back at Oregon's senators over appeals court nomination|date=September 19, 2017 |newspaper=The Oregonian}}

On January 3, 2018, Bounds' nomination was returned to Trump under Rule XXXI, Paragraph 6 of the United States Senate.{{cite web|url=https://www.congress.gov/congressional-record/2018/1/3/daily-digest|title=Congressional Record|website=www.congress.gov}} On January 5, 2018, Trump announced his intent to renominate Bounds to a federal judgeship.{{cite web|url=https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/presidential-actions/president-donald-j-trump-announces-renomination-21-judicial-nominees/|via=National Archives|work=whitehouse.gov|title=President Donald J. Trump Announces Renomination of 21 Judicial Nominees}} On January 8, 2018, his renomination was sent to the Senate.{{cite web|url=https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/presidential-actions/nominations-sent-senate-today-2/|via=National Archives|work=whitehouse.gov|title=Nominations Sent to the Senate Today}} In February 2018, the bipartisan commission cited by Wyden and Merkley found Bounds to be one of four suitable applicants for the judgeship.{{cite web|first1=Jeff|last1=Merkley|authorlink1=Jeff Merkley|first2=Ron|last2=Wyden|authorlink2=Ron Wyden|url=http://media.oregonlive.com/portland_impact/other/Signed%20Judicial%20Candidates%20Letter.pdf|title=Merkley and Wyden letter to the White House|newspaper=The Oregonian|date=February 12, 2018}} 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.{{cite news|last1=Bernstein|first1=Maxine|title=Oregon's U.S. senators say federal prosecutor Ryan Bounds unsuitable for 9th Circuit vacancy|url=http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2018/02/oregons_us_senators_say_federa.html|access-date=March 8, 2018|newspaper=The Oregonian|date=February 12, 2018}}

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.{{cite news |last1=Whelan |first1=Ed |authorlink1=Edward Whelan (American lawyer) |title=Beyond the Bounds of Fairness |url=https://www.nationalreview.com/bench-memos/beyond-the-bounds-of-fairness/ |publisher=National Review |date=May 7, 2018 |access-date=July 25, 2018}} 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.{{cite news|url=https://www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2018/07/democratic_senators_blast_ryan.html|title=Democratic senators blast Oregon prosecutor's judicial nomination on Senate floor|newspaper=The Oregonian|first=Maxine|last=Bernstein|date=July 17, 2018|accessdate=July 18, 2018}} 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.{{cite news |last1=Flynn |first1=Meagan |title=A Trump judicial nominee apologizes for controversial articles mocking multiculturalism |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2018/05/10/a-trump-judicial-nominee-apologizes-for-controversial-articles-mocking-multiculturalism/ |access-date=July 18, 2018 |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=May 10, 2018}} Wyden said he did not 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.

On May 9, 2018, a hearing on his nomination was held before the Senate Judiciary Committee.{{cite web|url=https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/meetings/05/09/2018/nominations|title=Nominations - United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary|website=www.judiciary.senate.gov|date=May 9, 2018 }} On June 7, 2018, his nomination was reported out of committee by an 11–10 vote.{{cite web|url=https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/06-07-18%20Results%20of%20Executive%20Business%20Meeting.pdf|title=Results of Executive Business Meeting – June 7, 2018, Senate Judiciary Committee|publisher=}} On July 18, 2018, the United States Senate invoked cloture on his nomination by a 50–49 vote.{{Cite web|url=https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=115&session=2&vote=00161|title=On the Cloture Motion (Motion to Invoke Cloture Ryan Wesley Bounds to be U.S. Circuit Judge for the Ninth Circuit)|website=www.senate.gov|access-date=July 19, 2018}} 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.{{Cite news |first=Karoun |last=Demirjian |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/senate-gop-withdraws-judicial-nominee-ryan-bounds-delivering-a-blow-to-trumps-court-plans/2018/07/19/0d81ff50-8b83-11e8-8aea-86e88ae760d8_story.html |title=White House withdraws judicial nominee Ryan Bounds, after GOP realizes he didn't have votes for confirmation |newspaper=The Washington Post |language=en |date=July 19, 2018 |access-date=July 19, 2018}}{{Cite web |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/tim-scott-trump-judicial-nominees_us_5b50e06fe4b0de86f48aff82 |title=Republican Tim Scott Tanks One Of Trump's Judicial Nominees |last=Bendery |first=Jennifer |date=July 19, 2018 |website=The Huffington Post |language=en-US |access-date=July 19, 2018}} On July 24, 2018, Bounds' nomination was officially withdrawn.{{Cite web |url=https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/presidential-actions/two-nominations-one-withdrawal-sent-senate-today-2/ |title=Two Nominations and One Withdrawal Sent to the Senate Today |language=en-US |via=National Archives |work=whitehouse.gov |access-date=2018-07-24}}

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

• Donald Trump judicial appointment controversies

{{Reflist|30em}}

• {{Ballotpedia|Ryan_Bounds|Ryan Bounds}}

• Race-Think: A Stanford Phenom? https://www.afj.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Race-Think-A-Stanford-Phenomenon.pdf
• Reasonable Doubts? https://www.afj.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Reasonable-Doubts.pdf
• Lo! A Pestilence Stalks Us https://www.afj.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Lo-a-Pestilence-Stalks-Us.pdf

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