Trump Judicial Nominee Is Apparently Too Racist Even For Tim Scott

White House confirms that it's pulling the nomination of Ryan Bounds to the Ninth Circuit.

(Photo credit should read MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)

Ryan Bounds, President Trump’s nominee to fill the seat of Judge Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain on the Ninth Circuit, once wrote that sensitivity was a “pestilence” that “stalks us.”

Now, the White House is pulling the Bounds nomination at the nominee’s request), and I don’t think many people will be in the mood to extend to Ryan Bounds the courtesy that he sought to deny others.

According to reports, Bounds’s nomination was scuttled because Senator im Scott (R-South Carolina) wasn’t sure that he could vote for him. Bounds has been under fire from decent people because of his past writings. It’s not just the smack at sensitivity training. From the Washington Post:

In one of his Stanford articles, Bounds described a phenomenon he called “race-think,” in which “multiculturalistas” and ethnic minorities bonded together to form groups of “racial purity” that he claimed ended up creating more division…

In another article, he urged the university not to lower the burden of proof in finding accused rapists in violation of university policy, writing that “there is nothing really inherently wrong with the University failing to punish an alleged rapist — regardless of his guilt — in the absence of adequate certainty,”

Predictably, none of these statements stopped Trump from nominating him or Republicans from supporting him. It’s almost like they think they can’t find conservative judges who haven’t said some racist crap in the past.

Normally, Tim Scott plays this game with the rest of his party. He’s a black Republican after all, and that requires a certain “go along to get along” mentality. But not this time:

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A spokesman for Scott confirmed that Scott had concerns about some of Bounds’s writings, while another Republican aide concurred that Scott had expressed problems with Bounds’s nomination.

I almost feel bad for Tim Scott, the way I imagine Harriet Tubman felt bad for the people she couldn’t free. He’s in a tough spot! I know black Republicans, more than I care to, and one consistent characteristic is that they just don’t want race to be an issue. It is, and they know it, and they can give you all sorts of (specious) arguments about how the GOP is secretly the party of black empowerment. But at core, they just kind of want race to not matter as much as it does, and are willing to ignore a large chunk of the lived experience of minorities to achieve their fantasy.

What I’m trying to say is that Scott shouldn’t be in the position as the only person in the Republican caucus that can call out the disturbing history of a nominee when he sees it. It’s not his job. Tim Scott didn’t ask to be the only black person with any real legislative power in the entire country. Bounds’s history was on the record; any number of Republicans could have joined Scott and said “this is too far.”

But they didn’t. Based on reports, it seems the GOP really wants us to know that TIM SCOTT held up the nomination. It’s the black guy, don’t you know. Whattayagonnado?

Maybe they can put enough pressure on Scott to reconsider. Or most likely, Trump will just nominate another white man (it’ll be a white man) who thinks the say way as Bounds, but has had the good sense not to write it down. OR MAYBE he will have written it down, but it still won’t matter because they’ll break Scott back into subservience.

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There are no victories here in Trump world. There is just damage. Scott held up the Republican wehrmacht today. They’ll make him pay for that, eventually.

Senate GOP withdraws judicial nominee Ryan Bounds, delivering a blow to Trump’s court plans [Washington Post]


Elie Mystal is the Executive Editor of Above the Law and the Legal Editor for More Perfect. He can be reached @ElieNYC on Twitter, or at elie@abovethelaw.com. He will resist.