Ryan Bounds
The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee held a confirmation Wednesday for a conservative federal prosecutor from Portland.
President Trump nominated Ryan Bounds to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers most the western United States.
During the confirmation hearing, Bounds apologized for controversial writings he made in college about sexual assaults, multiculturalism and the LGBTQ community.
"I do believe the rhetoric was at times overheated and I apologize for that," Bounds said. "I definitely do believe that long-marginalized communities in the United States do continue to face obstacles and do continue to face discrimination and I find it totally unacceptable."
Bounds' confirmation hearing went forward despite the fact that he doesn’t have the support of Oregon Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley.
Typically, senators can block a judicial nominee from their home state by not returning what’s known as a “blue slip.” Neither Merkely nor Wyden has returned his for Bounds.
During the hearing, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, a Republican, asked Bounds about controversial writings from college that he said "some liberal advocacy groups have sought to make an issue."
Before asking Bounds about the writings, Cruz added: "I suspect all of us on the committee would shudder to be judged by everything we thought and said when we were teenagers."
Later, Bounds clarified he was 21 years old at the time of some of the articles.
“I would like to start by making clear that I – sitting here today nearly a quarter century later – share the concerns of many that the rhetoric that I used in debating campus politics back in the early '90s on Stanford’s campus was often overheated, overbroad, too often not as respectful as it should’ve been of people of opposing viewpoints about how best to pursue diversity and insure a multicultural respect on campus," Bounds said.
Bounds added that he’s spend the last two decades advocating "tirelessly for diversity."
In February, after the writings surfaced in a report by the liberal-leaning Alliance For Justice, Bounds resigned as head of the Multnomah County Bar Association’s Committee on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.
Related: Senate Committee To Take Up Judicial Nominee Despite Oregon Senators' Objections
During an exchange with Sen. Chris Coons, D-Delaware, Bounds became emotional when asked if he believes people of color and the LGBTQ community experiences discrimination today.
"I have had friends in the LGBTQ community who have told me about physical assaults they have suffered after leaving places we were together," Bounds said.
"And how did that affect you?" Coons asked.
"It was very upsetting," Bounds responded.
"Mr. Bounds, I appreciate the sincerity and the emotion that you bring to this exchange," Coons said.
Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond, where he studies federal judicial selection, has watched every judicial hearing under Presidents Obama and Trump.
“There were a number of disputed questions of fact,” Tobias said. “I don’t think much light was shed on his qualifications. There were hardly any substantive questions asked of him and this is their opportunity to do that.”
While Bounds fielded repeated questions about his college writing from committee members on both sides of the aisle, the fact that the hearing was happening at all was a sign of the times for some.
Since 2004, no judicial nominee has sat for a committee hearing without the support of the home state's senators.
Wyden and Merkely have called Bounds an "unqualified nominee" and have said he tried to keep the college writings from becoming public. Bounds told the committee he was only asked by Wyden's office to supply writing as far back as law school.
Citing a previous Republican and Democratic committee chairs, Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley said he would hold committee hearings without blue slips.
"I will hold hearings for circuit court nominees without two positive blue slips if the White House has consulted with home state senators," Grassley said at Wednesday's hearing.
Merkely said in an interview Tuesday that there was no consultation in advance by the White House to arrive at a nominee everyone could agree on.
"If consultation means we are now announcing our nomination and we hope that people from the home state like him, if that's consultation, you could call (Bounds' process) consultation," Merkely told OPB.
Rhode Island's Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democrat, said the blue slip process has long given home state senators a decisive voice on nominations for their state's seats on circuit courts.
"When you undo the blue slip for circuit court of appeal nominees, you open the door for any future president to pick any circuit court nominee without the slightest regard for the state affiliation of a particular seat," Whitehouse said. "The entire power with regard to the appointment of circuit court judges moves to the Oval Office."
Tobias, the law professor, said its further erosion of the senate's institutional prerogatives in ways that are not helpful in the longer term.
"Partisanship, polarization, divisiveness, inability to work together to keep the federal courts operational with so many vacancies," Tobias said. "Those kinds of concerns."
Senators on the judiciary committee have an additional week to asks Bounds questions in writing before the committee votes on his nomination.
"I'm willing to bet everything I own that there will be a party line vote in three weeks," Tobias said.
Bounds will ultimately face a full vote by the Senate sometime likely in June or July. Tobias said the vote is likely to be close.
