{{Short description|American attorney (born 1973)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2018}} {{Infobox person | name = Ryan Bounds | image = Ryan W. Bounds.jpg | caption = Ryan Bounds in 2018 | birth_name = Ryan Wesley Bounds | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1973|6|28}} | birth_place = Umatilla, Oregon, U.S. | occupation = Lawyer | political_party = Republican<ref name = questionnaire/> | relatives = Tucker Bounds (brother)<ref>{{cite news|last1=McDowell|first1=Jade|title=Hermiston grad keeps Walden's schedule running smoothly|url=http://www.eastoregonian.com/eo/local-news/20170428/hermiston-grad-keeps-waldens-schedule-running-smoothly|access-date=January 3, 2018|work=East Oregonian|date=April 28, 2017}}</ref> | education = Stanford University (BA)<br>Yale University (JD) }}
'''Ryan Wesley Bounds''' (born June 28, 1973) is an American attorney previously 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, but his controversial 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.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://afj.org/neomi-rao/rao-bounds|title=Rao & Bounds: Similar Statements Demand Same Scrutiny|website=Alliance for Justice|language=en-US|access-date=2019-11-08}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2018/06/senate_judiciary_votes_11_to_1.html|title=Nomination of Oregon prosecutor Ryan Bounds to 9th Circuit heading to full Senate|last=Bernstein|first=Maxine|date=June 7, 2018|website=The Oregonian|language=en|access-date=November 8, 2019}}</ref> In July 2018, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced that President Donald Trump would withdraw the nomination.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/senate/397919-controversial-trump-judicial-nominee-withdraws/ |title=Controversial Trump judicial nominee withdraws |last=Byrnes |first=Jesse |date=July 19, 2018 |website=The Hill|language=en |access-date=July 19, 2018}}</ref>
== Biography == Bounds was born in Umatilla, Oregon, on June 28, 1973.<ref name="questionnaire">{{Cite web |url=https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Bounds%20SJQ2.pdf |title=Questionnaire for Judicial Nominees |website=judiciary.senate.gov |access-date=June 30, 2018}}</ref><ref name = Sokol>{{cite web|url = https://vettingroom.org/2018/01/30/ryan-bounds/#ftnt1|title = Ryan Bounds – Nominee for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit|last = Sokol|first = Maxwelle|date = January 30, 2018|accessdate = January 23, 2026|work = The Vetting Room}}</ref> He 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''.<ref name = Sokol/>
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.<ref>{{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 }}</ref> 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. In 2010, he became an Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Oregon, prosecuting criminal cases.<ref name="whitehouse">{{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}}</ref>
In 2024, Bounds was hired as a lawyer for Boeing.<ref>{{cite news|url = https://www.bizjournals.com/portland/news/2024/05/28/aequitas-prosecutor-boeing.html|title = Lead prosecutor in Aequitas fraud trial lands job with Boeing|last = Hayes|first = Elizabeth|date = May 28, 2024|accessdate = January 23, 2026|work = American City Business Journals}}</ref>
== Failed nomination to U.S. Court of Appeals ==
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.<ref name="whitehouse2">{{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}}</ref>
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.<ref>{{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}}</ref>
On January 3, 2018, Bounds' nomination was returned to Trump under Rule XXXI, Paragraph 6 of the United States Senate.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.congress.gov/congressional-record/2018/1/3/daily-digest|title=Congressional Record|website=www.congress.gov}}</ref> On January 5, 2018, Trump announced his intent to renominate Bounds to a federal judgeship.<ref>{{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}}</ref> On January 8, 2018, his renomination was sent to the Senate.<ref>{{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}}</ref> In February 2018, the bipartisan commission cited by Wyden and Merkley found Bounds to be one of four suitable applicants for the judgeship.<ref>{{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}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{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}}</ref>
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.<ref>{{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}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Oregonian">{{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}}</ref> Though Bounds said he had not been compelled to produce writing before law school, the selection committee's chair later said that he had not disclosed the columns when broadly asked about any past controversies, in writing or otherwise.<ref>{{cite news|url = https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2018/05/democratic_senators_grill_oreg.html|title = Senators grill Oregon federal prosecutor during judicial confirmation hearing|last = Bernstein|first = Maxine|date = May 9, 2018|accessdate = January 23, 2026|work = The Oregonian}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{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}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Oregonian" />
On May 9, 2018, a hearing on his nomination was held before the Senate Judiciary Committee.<ref>{{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 }}</ref> On June 7, 2018, his nomination was reported out of committee by an 11–10 vote.<ref>{{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=}}</ref> On July 18, 2018, the United States Senate invoked cloture on his nomination by a 50–49 vote.<ref>{{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}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{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}}</ref><ref>{{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}}</ref> On July 24, 2018, Bounds' nomination was officially withdrawn.<ref>{{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}}</ref>
== Memberships == Bounds has been a member of the Federalist Society since approximately 2000.<ref name="questionnaire"/>
== See also == * Donald Trump judicial appointment controversies
== References == {{Reflist|30em}}
== External links == * {{Ballotpedia|Ryan_Bounds|Ryan Bounds}}
=== Controversial writings by 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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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bounds, Ryan Wesley}} Category:1973 births Category:20th-century American lawyers Category:21st-century American lawyers Category:Assistant United States attorneys Category:Boeing people Category:George W. Bush administration personnel Category:Living people Category:Oregon Republicans Category:Oregon lawyers Category:People from Umatilla, Oregon Category:Stanford University alumni Category:Yale Law School alumni