Trump nominates Oregon federal prosecutor Ryan Bounds to serve as federal appellate judge

Oregon Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan W. Bounds, who had worked as a special assistant to former President George W. Bush, was nominated Thursday to serve as a judge on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, President Donald J. Trump announced.

If confirmed, Bounds, 44, will fill a vacancy created when Circuit Judge Diarmuid O'Scannlain assumed senior status.

But later Thursday, Oregon's two Democratic senators informed the White House counsel they will block the nomination. U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley wrote that Bounds was not vetted through their bipartisan judicial selection committee. As a result, they won't return what's called a blue slip on behalf of Bounds to the Senate Judiciary Committee for nomination.

"We have a long history of organizing a committee charged with thoroughly vetting applicants from the Oregon legal community,'' the two senators wrote. "Unfortunately it is now apparent that you never intended to allow our longstanding process to play out.''

The two senators, to accommodate the need to fill the judicial vacancy as soon as possible, had recommended U.S. District Judge Marco A. Hernandez, who they described in their letter to the White House as an excellent, sitting, Republican-appointed federal judge who already had been through the vetting process.

Hernandez, however, pointed out that while he was nominated by former President George W. Bush, that nomination did not result in his appointment. Judge Hernandez was renominated by former President Barack Obama, a Democrat. Hernandez is unaffiliated.

The senators accused the White House of only seeking their input to support Trump's 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,'' Wyden and Merkley wrote.

U.S. Rep. Greg Walden, whose chief of staff is Bounds' sister, had recommended Bounds for the judge vacancy.

"The President's nomination of Ryan Bounds to serve on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is welcome news for rural Oregon. Born and raised in Hermiston, Ryan has never lost touch with his roots and understands well the way of life in our communities. He knows firsthand the dominant role federal decisions can make in our region where a majority of land is managed by the federal government,'' Walden wrote in an opinion piece in the East Oregonian on Thursday. "I was glad to offer my strong recommendation of Ryan earlier this year.''

Ryan W. Bounds

Bounds began his legal career as a law clerk to Judge O'Scannlain at Pioneer Courthouse, after graduating from Yale Law School. Bounds, who grew up in Hermiston, graduated from Hermiston High School in 1991 and obtained a bachelor's degree from Stanford University.

He has worked as an assistant U.S. attorney in Portland since 2010. He spent his first two years in the violent crime section, handling immigration prosecutions. Since 2011, he's prosecuted fraud and environmental crimes.

Before working as a federal prosecutor in Oregon, Bounds worked as a civil litigator in Portland, as a special assistant to President George W. Bush for justice and immigration policy, as chief of staff and deputy assistant attorney general for the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Legal Policy and as a federal prosecutor in Washington.

"Ryan is eminently qualified to serve as a judge on the Ninth Circuit,'' said Oregon's U.S. Attorney Billy J. Williams. "He is a dedicated public servant and well regarded in the Oregon legal community.''

Bounds was one of 16 people who Trump nominated Thursday to serve as a federal judge.

Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond in Virginia, said most of Trump's nominees are young and politically conservative and were recommended by the Federalist Society.

The nomination will now go to the U.S. Senate for confirmation.

-- Maxine Bernstein

mbernstein@oregonian.com
503-221-8212
@maxoregonian

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