WASHINGTON A senior U.S. district judge nominated by Republican former President Ronald Reagan on Tuesday has been assigned to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission antitrust lawsuit filed against Amazon.com.

John C. Coughenour, nominated to the bench in 1981, previously handled the case of Ahmed Ressam, the so-called "Millennium Bomber" convicted of attempting to blow up Los Angeles airport in 2000, among a number of notable cases.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Chris Reese)