PORTLAND, Ore. (CN) – President Donald Trump’s nominee for the Ninth Circuit could act as an advocate for Trump’s immigration agenda, according to lawyers who know him – and the nomination highlights Oregon’s divided political landscape with surprising echoes of past conservative movements in the state.
In May, Oregon Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, both Democrats, told Trump they were ready to organize a bipartisan committee to vet candidates for the Ninth Circuit position and provide Trump with a list of potential nominees from their state.
Trump apparently had a different process in mind.
In a speech as the Republican nominee for president, Trump promised that his judicial nominees would “all be picked by the Federalist Society.”
Co-founded by former Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, the group seeks to advance the legal careers of conservatives who espouse originalism – the idea that the Constitution should be interpreted based on the intention of the framers, not as a living document that adapts to a changing American society.
Scalia’s replacement, Justice Neil Gorsuch, is a member of the society, as is Oregon Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan Bounds whom Trump nominated for a slot on the Ninth Circuit.
The lifetime appointment could shift the circuit’s reputation as the nation’s most liberal. Bounds would replace Circuit Judge Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain, a Portlander known as the circuit’s most conservative judge, who assumed senior status in January.
Instead of choosing a nominee from a list drafted by a bipartisan committee, Trump chose Bounds after Oregon’s lone Republican congressman, Rep. Greg Walden, recommended him to take one of Oregon’s two seats on the circuit.
Walden co-authored the first discarded replacement of President Barack Obama’s signature health care law, which the Congressional Budget Office estimated would have cost 23 million people their insurance. He also gave an impassioned speech on the floor of the House defending Ammon Bundy and his followers during the armed standoff at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.
In a letter to President Trump, Walden called Bounds “the rare Oregonian with a sincere commitment to conservative jurisprudence and a distinguished academic record [who would] approach each case as an opportunity to defend our constitutional principles.”
In addition to his membership in the Federalist Society, Bounds has connections that may have helped position him for this appointment. His first job out of law school was as clerk for O’Scannlain, and his sister Lorissa is Walden’s chief of staff.
Sources who spoke on condition of anonymity called Bounds “incisive” and “aggressive,” and said they had no doubt that he would be a “powerful advocate” for a variety of conservative causes.
One prominent public defender told Courthouse News that “from an interpersonal standpoint, Bounds is just a fucking weird dude.”
“He’s the kind of wealthy guy that affects an accent, like Thurston Howell from ‘Gilligan’s Island,’” according to the public defender, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “But in terms of his academic qualifications it lines up perfectly with people that end up in federal judgeships.”