Moving Forward on Bounds Nomination Marks a Dangerous Surrender to Trump

WASHINGTON, D.C., May 22, 2018 – Following today’s news that Ryan Bounds is on the agenda for the Senate Judiciary Committee’s markup session this Thursday, AFJ President Nan Aron released the following statement:

“Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley’s decision to put Ryan Bounds’s nomination up for consideration this week is an affront to every senator’s constitutional role in judicial nominations, and a dangerous yielding of power to the Trump administration. Bounds’s nomination has been soundly rejected by both of his home state senators. A majority of members of the independent committee that evaluated Bounds have withdrawn their support after making clear that Bounds misled them about offensive writings denigrating communities of color, LGBTQ individuals, and survivors of sexual assault, among others. Grassley is silencing the voices of the people of Oregon to hand yet another Trump nominee a lifetime seat on the federal bench. Every senator should take notice: today, Grassley is disrespecting the senators from Oregon in favor of the Trump Administration to advance nominees they vocally oppose.”