Page 4
February 14, 2018
Court Pick Apologizes for Racist Remarks
C ontinued froM f ront
the process.
On Monday, Merkley and
Wyden released the names of
four possible nominees chosen
by a bipartisan committee, com-
prised of attorneys appointed
by the two senators and Oregon
U.S. Rep. Greg Walden. The list
includes Bounds, Medford trial
attorney Kelly Anderson, Port-
land appellate attorney Thomas
Christ, and Renata Gowie, an-
other assistant U.S. attorney for
Oregon.
But Wyden and Merkley made
their feelings about Bounds
abundantly clear:
“After the committee fin-
ished its work, we learned that
Ryan Bounds failed to disclose
inflammatory writings that re-
veal archaic and alarming views
about sexual assault, the rights
of workers, people of color, and
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the LGBTQ community,” they
said. “While we have followed
through on our commitment
to forward to the White House
the names reported by the com-
mittee, we do not believe Mr.
Bounds is a suitable nominee
for a lifetime appointment to the
bench.”
Bounds, who grew up in east-
ern Oregon, was first nominated
for the Ninth Circuit by Pres-
ident Trump last year, but the
year ran out before his nomina-
tion could come up before the
Senate Judiciary Committee.
This was after the administration
ignored Merkley and Wyden’s
call to nominate U.S. District
Judge Marco Hernandez for the
post, as well as their lack of en-
dorsement for Bounds.
Instead, the president ac-
cepted the recommendation of
Bounds by Walden, Oregon’s
lone Republican congressman.
Bounds was re-nominated again
last month, again without con-
sulting the Oregon senators, who
have continued with their own
bi-partisan committee’s process
of considering nominees.
Trump, as he promised on the
campaign trail, appears to have
delegated court nominations to
the conservative think tank, the
Federalist Society, defined on its
website as, “a group of conser-
vatives and libertarians dedicat-
ed to reforming the current legal
order…to say what the law is,
not what it should be.”
Gil Carrasco, a law professor
at Willamette University, an ex-
pert in the law as it pertains to
civil rights, immigration and the
constitution, said the tradition
that the administration consults
with home state senators when
considering a judicial appoint-
ment has its underpinnings in
Article II of the Constitution and
sidestepping that process is a
troubling break.
“It is disturbing that this
White House has affirmatively
chosen to ignore a tradition that
has existed in Oregon for over
two decades,” he said.
Carrasco also hinted that
Bounds’ appointment reeks of
nepotism. “This departure from
our longstanding tradition is
particularly problematic given
that Ryan Bounds’ sister is the
chief of staff of Representative
Walden.”
Tung Yin, law professor at
Lewis & Clark Law School, said
he doesn’t give a lot of weight to
things that Bounds wrote when
he was in his late teens or early
20s.
“I don’t think it’s irrelevant,
and he would certainly be asked
about at confirmation hearings,”
he said.
The problem with Bounds is
that it’s difficult to know where
his sentiments lie since he’s never
been a judge and “doesn’t have a
paper trail” of judicial rulings to
survey, according to Tung.
“If somebody is so far out-
side the mainstream, if they’re
too extreme, they won’t get con-
firmed,” he said. “But it’s hard to
tell with Bounds.”
But it’s not hard to tell the ef-
fect of the administration’s tac-
tics for Lena Zwarensteyn, di-
rector of strategic engagement of
the American Constitution Soci-
ety, which follows a progressive
agenda.
The administration is “trying
to achieve through the courts
what they can’t achieve legisla-
tively,” she said, by making life-
time appointments to relatively
young, white male conservatives
to district courts throughout the
country.
“The president touted through-
out the campaign his Supreme
Court list, overturning Roe v.
Wade, (his views on) the Second
Amendment, and a bit of a hostile
role toward consumer interests,
clean air, clean water,” she said.
At the same time, he is attempt-
ing to “de-diversify the federal
bench.”
“Obama nominated women
and people,” she said. “We are
a very large, diverse community
and that does need to be repre-
sented on the bench, for the pub-
lic’s trust of the bench, to see
people who reflect them on the
bench,” she said. “This admin-
istration does not see that as a
great benefit.”
According to a January ar-
ticle by the McClatchy news
service, there are five vacancies
on the 9th Circuit and two more
will open up in the coming eight
months and could dramatically
affect the makeup of the liber-
al-leaning court. “That means
Trump could significantly influ-
ence the West Coast judiciary by
nominating the type of young,
ideologically
conservative
judges he has tapped for other
courts,” the article states.
Of the 24 judges now sitting
on the 9th Circuit, according to
McClatchy, 18 were appointed
by Democrats and six were ap-
pointed by Republican George
W. Bush. “If Trump is able to get
all of his appointees confirmed
this year, that split will shrink to
17-12,” the article states. “Re-
publican appointees could ex-
ceed Democrat appointees by the
time Trump leaves office.”
Zwarensteyn says these moves
by the administration are “scary”
because Trump’s appointments
to these lifetime positions can
outlast anyone currently holding
office.
“It’s one thing to nominate
predominantly white men, but
it’s another thing to nominate
white men who have made hos-
tile comments about marginal-
ized and diverse communities
who want to feel like they have a
fair shake,” she said. “It’s pretty
terrifying but also a time to look
at who we want in these offices.”
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