| Ray McNichols | |
| Office: | Senior Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Idaho |
| Term Start: | July 1, 1981 |
| Term End: | December 25, 1985 |
| Office1: | Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Idaho |
| Term Start1: | 1971 |
| Term End1: | 1981 |
| Predecessor1: | Fredrick Monroe Taylor |
| Successor1: | Marion Jones Callister |
| Office2: | Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Idaho |
| Term Start2: | May 1, 1964 |
| Term End2: | July 1, 1981 |
| Appointer2: | Lyndon B. Johnson |
| Predecessor2: | Chase A. Clark |
| Successor2: | Harold Lyman Ryan |
| Birth Name: | Raymond Clyne McNichols |
| Birth Date: | 16 June 1914 |
| Birth Place: | Bonners Ferry, Idaho |
| Death Place: | Boise, Idaho |
| Resting Place: | Morris Hill Cemetery Boise, Idaho |
| Party: | Democratic |
| Education: | University of Idaho College of Law (LL.B.) |
Raymond Clyne McNichols (June 16, 1914 – December 25, 1985) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Idaho.
Born in Bonners Ferry, Idaho, and raised in Lewiston, McNichols served in the United States Navy during World War II, from 1942 to 1947, under Raymond A. Spruance. He attended the University of Idaho in Moscow and received a Bachelor of Laws from its College of Law in 1950. He was in private practice in Orofino in Clearwater County, Idaho from 1950 to 1964. He was a member of the Democratic Party.[1] [2]
On April 15, 1964, McNichols was nominated by President Lyndon B. Johnson to a seat on the United States District Court for the District of Idaho vacated by the retirement of Judge Chase A. Clark.[3] He was confirmed by the United States Senate on April 30 and received his commission on May 1, 1964. McNichols served as Chief Judge from 1971 to 1981, and assumed senior status on July 1, 1981, and served in that capacity for over four years, until his death.
McNichols' younger brother Robert James McNichols (1922–1992) was also a federal judge, in Spokane, Washington.[4] [5] During Robert's investiture to the federal bench in January 1980, the elder brother swore the younger in.[6]
McNichols suffered a heart attack at his Boise home on Christmas Day in 1985, and died at age 71 at St. Luke's Regional Medical Center in Boise.[7] He and his wife, Mary Kay Riley McNichols (1914–1991), are buried at Morris Hill Cemetery in Boise. They had two children.[8]