President nominates Bounds to fill 9th Circuit Court vacancy

President Donald J. Trump announced Thursday that he has nominated Ryan W. Bounds to serve as a Circuit Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. If confirmed, Bounds will fill a vacancy created when Circuit Judge Diarmuid O’Scannlain assumed senior status.

Bounds serves as an Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Oregon, where he prosecutes criminal cases involving fraud and environmental crimes on behalf of the United States.

Before joining the United States Attorney’s Office in Oregon, Bounds served as a Portland civil litigator; as special assistant to President George W. Bush for justice and immigration policy; as chief of staff and deputy assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’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 Billy J. Williams, United States Attorney for the District of Oregon. “He is a dedicated public servant and well regarded in the Oregon legal community.”

Born and raised in Eastern Oregon, Bounds graduated as the valedictorian of Hermiston High School in 1991. He has a bachelor’s degree from Stanford University and is a graduate of the Yale Law School. Bounds began his legal career in Pioneer Courthouse in Portland, Oregon where he served as a law clerk to Judge O’Scannlain.