President Obama Nominates Four to Serve on the United States District Courts

WASHINGTON, DC -- Today, President Obama nominated Stephen R. Bough, Richard Franklin Boulware II, Judge Salvador Mendoza, Jr., and Staci Michelle Yandle to serve on the United States District Courts.

“I am pleased to nominate these distinguished individuals to serve on the United States District Court bench,” said President Obama.  “I am confident they will serve the American people with integrity and a steadfast commitment to justice.”

Stephen R. Bough: Nominee for the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri
Stephen R. Bough is a partner at the Law Offices of Stephen R. Bough, where his practice focuses on insurance coverage and personal injury litigation.  Before he founded his current firm in 2006, he practiced law at Henning & Bough from 2002 to 2006 and at Shamberg, Johnson & Bergman from 1999 to 2002.  Bough began his career as a law clerk for Judge Scott O. Wright of the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri from 1997 to 1999.  He received his J.D. in 1997 from the University of Missouri—Kansas City School of Law, where he served as editor-in-chief of the UMKC Law Review, and his B.S. in 1993 from Missouri State University.

Richard Franklin Boulware II:  Nominee for the United States District Court for the District of Nevada
Richard Franklin Boulware II has worked at the Federal Public Defender’s Office in Las Vegas since 2007 and has been the lead attorney on complex white-collar cases since 2010.  From 2003 to 2007, he was a trial attorney at the Federal Defenders of New York.  Boulware began his legal career as a law clerk to Judge Denise Cote of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York from 2002 to 2003.  He received his J.D. in 2002 from Columbia Law School and his A.B. cum laude in 1993 from Harvard College. 

Judge Salvador Mendoza, Jr.: Nominee for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Washington
Judge Salvador Mendoza, Jr. has served as a judge on the Superior Court for Benton and Franklin Counties since 2013.  From 1999 to 2013, Judge Mendoza practiced law as a solo practitioner and in various law partnerships, where his practice focused on criminal defense.  During that same period, Judge Mendoza also served as a judge pro tempore in various district, municipal, and juvenile courts in Benton and Franklin Counties.  From 1998 to 1999, he served as a Deputy Prosecuting Attorney in the Franklin County Prosecutor’s Office and, from 1997 to 1998, he served as an Assistant Attorney General in the Washington State Attorney General’s Office.  Judge Mendoza received his J.D. in 1997 from the UCLA School of Law and his B.A. in 1994 from the University of Washington.

Staci Michelle Yandle: Nominee for the United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois
Staci Michelle Yandle has been a solo practitioner in southern Illinois since 2007, where her practice focuses on civil litigation in federal and state court.  From 2003 to 2007, Yandle was a partner with The Rex Carr Law Firm LLC, and, from 1987 to 2003, she was an associate with the law firm of Carr, Korein, Schlichter, Kunin, Montroy, Glass & Bogard.  She received her J.D. in 1987 from the Vanderbilt University School of Law and her B.S. in 1983 from the University of Illinois.  Yandle served by appointment on the Illinois Gaming Board from 1999 to 2001, and on the Illinois Advisory Committee to the United States Commission on Civil Rights from approximately 1992 to 1996.