Steven Grasz
2018 - Present
6
Leonard Steven Grasz is a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit. He was nominated to the court by President Donald Trump (R) on August 3, 2017, and confirmed by the U.S. Senate on December 12, 2017, by a vote of 50-48.[1][2][3] To see a full list of judges appointed by Donald Trump, click here.
The United States Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit is one of 13 U.S. courts of appeal. They are the intermediate appellate courts of the United States federal courts. To learn more about the 8th Circuit Court, click here.
Before joining the federal bench, Grasz was senior counsel at the law firm of Husch Blackwell LLP.[4]
Judicial nominations and appointments
United States Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit
- See also: Federal judges nominated by Donald Trump
Grasz was nominated to the United States Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit by President Donald Trump (R) on August 3, 2017. The U.S. Senate confirmed Graz on December 12, 2017, by a vote of 50-48.[2] He received commission on January 3, 2018.[5] To read more about the federal nomination process, click here.
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| Nominee Information |
| Name: Leonard Steven Grasz |
| Court: United States Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit |
| Progress |
| Confirmed 131 days after nomination. |
 Nominated: August 3, 2017
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| ABA Rating: Unanimously Not Qualified (with one abstention)
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| Questionnaire: Questionnaire |
| Hearing: November 1, 2017
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| QFRs: (Hover over QFRs to read more) |
| Reported: December 7, 2017
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| Confirmed: December 12, 2017
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| Vote: 50-48
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Confirmation vote
The U.S. Senate confirmed Grasz on December 12, 2017, on a vote of 50-48.[2] To see a full breakdown of the vote on the official U.S. Senate website, click here.
| Steven Grasz confirmation vote (December 12, 2017) | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Yea | Nay | No vote | ||||||
 Democratic |
0 | 46 | 0 | ||||||
 Republican |
50 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
 Independent |
0 | 2 | 0 | ||||||
| Total | 50 | 48 | 0 | ||||||
Senate Judiciary Committee hearing
Grasz had his hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on November 1, 2017. The committee voted to advance Grasz's nomination to the full Senate on December 7, 2017.[2]
Nomination
Grasz was nominated to replace Judge William Riley.
The American Bar Association unanimously rated Grasz not qualified for the position.[6] To read more about ABA ratings, click here.
ABA rating
On October 30, 2017, the American Bar Association's (ABA) standing committee on the federal judiciary released that the committee unanimously rated Steven Grasz not qualified for his nomination to the United States Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit. The ABA released a statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee explaining the rating. That statement is presented here:[7]
Reaction to Grasz's ABA rating
Both of Grasz's home state senators, Deb Fischer (R) and Ben Sasse (R) gave speeches on the floor to discuss the ratings.[8]
In her speech, Senator Fischer called the process of Grasz’s ABA evaluation biased and said the “tactics used by the ABA are not right. They show contempt for ideas that do not fit the interviewer’s personal beliefs and in no way portray an attempt to carefully consider whether or not Steve Grasz is capable of being a fair judge. This wasn’t an evaluation. It was a partisan, shameful attack. It was intended to further the political agenda of the two evaluators and damage Steve’s sterling legal reputation.”
Sen. Fischer's speech:
Senator Sasse stated that if the ABA didn’t recant its rating that “I think we should recognize that the fiction of the ABA as a serious organization that ought to be taken seriously as a neutral and partial arbiter of qualifications for the federal bench should be dispensed with and we in this body who've actually taken an oath to three separate but equal branches with differentiated roles of legislating, executing, and ultimately judging, would continue to affirm that distinction and that we should want judges who do not try to be super legislators but rather seek to attend themselves to the facts and the law as is indeed the calling of Article 3 branch judges.”
Sen. Sasse's speech:
Prompted, in part, by the Grasz rating, the Senate Judiciary Committee held hearings on November 15, 2017, in which the chair of the ABA's standing committee on the federal judiciary, Pamela Bresnahan, testified about the ABA's ratings process.[9]
Responses to the ABA's ratings
The ABA's assessment in 2017 that some of President Trump's judicial nominees were not qualified for their positions prompted responses from senators and from various media outlets. Below is a sampling of the reactions from various public officials and media outlets.
Support for the ABA's role in nominations
In an editorial published on November 14, 2017, the editorial board of The Los Angeles Times argued that the ABA should not be removed from the process and that the president should re-engage with the ABA on nominations. "The ABA isn't infallible, but it has a record of evaluating prospective judges in a fair and bipartisan way. Evaluators from its Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary conduct confidential interviews with people who worked with prospective nominees and then rate the candidates on the basis of experience, integrity and temperament. If it has a bias, it is in favor of litigators," the editorial stated.[10]
Democratic senators maintained that the ABA was a neutral evaluator.[11] Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) stated, "I think most people understand what's going on here. They are really picking people for the lifetime appointments on the federal bench who have questionable backgrounds and questionable experience."[11] Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Cal.) argued that the ABA's rating was "the one legally-oriented counsel that we get," while Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.) argued that it was "deeply regrettable that some members of the Senate are suggesting that it’s a partisan organization."[11]
Criticism of the ABA's role
The editorial board of The Wall Street Journal, in an editorial published on November 14, 2017, argued that ABA ratings should be disregarded entirely during the review process. The editorial stated, "If Republicans are serious about getting President Trump’s judicial nominees confirmed, they will have to rid themselves of the fiction of a politically neutral American Bar Association. The outfit’s recent antics provide ample reason to remove it from Senate vetting."[12] A report in The New York Times indicated that the administration was "considering advising future nominees not to submit to interviews by the association or sign confidentiality waivers that provide its evaluators access to disciplinary records."[10]
Following the ABA's not qualified ratings, Republicans criticized the ABA's process, arguing that it was partisan and should not be considered a neutral evaluator. Senator Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) stated on the Senate floor, "We should completely dispel with the fiction that the American Bar Association is a fair and impartial arbiter of facts. This is a sad reality, but it is the reality."[13][14] Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) argued that the ABA "has demonstrated over past decades repeatedly partisan interests and ideological interests," while Senator Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) argued that the ABA was "blatantly political. Often. Not always."[11]
ABA testimony, November 15, 2017
In a Senate Judiciary Committee meeting on November 15, 2017, Pamela Bresnahan, the chair of the ABA's standing committee on the federal judiciary, was invited to testify about the Grasz nomination specifically and the ABA review process generally. Bresnahan provided a supplemental statement to the committee as a portion of her committee testimony. This statement was an additional response to the ABA's October 30, 2017, statement attending the ABA's not qualified rating of Grasz's nomination. Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who chaired the committee meeting on behalf of the Senate Judiciary Committee chair, Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), indicated after Bresnahan's testimony that the record would be kept open for one week in order for senators to present questions for the record that the ABA would be afforded an opportunity to answer.
The following day, Senator Grassley chaired an executive business meeting of the Judiciary Committee. Grassley, in prepared remarks, acknowledged that he would have more to say on specific nominees rated not qualified by the ABA at a later date, but stated, "Of course, the ABA doesn’t share the names of those who said this because they claim it allows for the interviewees to be more candid about a nominee. This certainly may be true. But it’s also true that there is another particular danger in giving too much power to testimony that comes from folks who know they won’t ever be held accountable for their words or accusations."[15]
- For more on Grasz's ABA rating, see ABA ratings during the Trump administration
Education
Grasz earned his bachelor's degree, cum laude, from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1984 and his J.D., Order of the Coif, from the University of Nebraska College of Law in 1989. During a period of his legal studies, Grasz served as the executive editor of the Nebraska Law Review. Also, he received the Roscoe Pound Award as the top oral advocate in his class.[1][16]
Professional career
- 2018-present: Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit
- 2002-2018: Private practice, Omaha, Neb.
- 1991-2002: Chief deputy attorney general, Office of the Attorney General of Nebraska
- 1989-1991: Private practice, Omaha, Neb.
- 1984-1985: Legislative assistant, U.S. Rep. Virginia Smith, (R-Neb.)[1][16]
About the court
| Eighth Circuit |
|---|
| Court of Appeals |
|
| Judgeships |
| Posts: 11 |
| Judges: 11 |
| Vacancies: 0 |
| Judges |
| Chief: Steven Colloton |
| Active judges: William D. Benton, Steven Colloton, Ralph Erickson, L. Steven Grasz, Raymond Gruender, Jane Kelly, Jonathan Kobes, James Loken, Bobby Shepherd, Lavenski Smith, David Stras Senior judges: |
The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit is a federal appellate court with appellate jurisdiction. It hears appeals from all of the circuit courts within its jurisdiction and its rulings may be appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States.
The Eighth Circuit has 11 authorized judicial posts. The chief judge of the court is Lavenski Smith, who was appointed by President George W. Bush (R). Four of the judges on the court were appointed by Donald Trump (R).
Appeals are heard in the Thomas Eagleton U.S. Courthouse in St. Louis, Missouri.
Three judges of the Eighth Circuit went on to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States. Willis Van Devanter was appointed to the Supreme Court in 1910 by William Howard Taft, Charles Evans Whittaker was appointed in 1957 by Dwight Eisenhower, and Harry Blackmun was appointed in 1970 by Richard Nixon.
The Eighth Circuit has appellate jurisdiction over cases heard in one of its subsidiary districts. These cases can include civil and criminal matters that fall under federal law. Appeals of rulings by the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals are petitioned to the Supreme Court of the United States. Justice Neil Gorsuch is the circuit justice for the Eighth Circuit.
The United States Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit has jurisdiction over the United States district courts in the following federal judicial districts:
To read opinions published by this court, click here.
The federal nomination process
Federal judges are nominated by the president of the United States and confirmed by the Senate. There are multiple steps to the process:
- The president nominates an individual for a judicial seat.
- The nominee fills out a questionnaire and is reviewed by the Senate Judiciary Committee.
- The Senate Judiciary Committee holds a hearing with the nominee, questioning them about things like their judicial philosophy, past rulings or opinions, etc.
- As part of this process, the committee sends a blue slip to senators from the home state in which the judicial nomination was received, allowing them to express their approval or disapproval of the nominee.
- After the hearing, the Senate Judiciary Committee will vote to approve or return the nominee.
- If approved, the nominee is voted on by the full Senate.
- If the Committee votes to return the nominee to the president, the president has the opportunity to re-nominate the individual.
- The Senate holds a vote on the candidate.
- If the Senate confirms the nomination, the nominee receives a commission to serve a lifelong position as a federal judge.
- If the Senate does not confirm the nomination, that nominee does not become a judge.
See also
External links
- Search Google News for this topic
- Grasz's biography from the Federal Judicial Center
- United States Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 The White House, "President Donald J. Trump announces sixth wave of judicial candidates and fifth wave of U.S. Attorney candidates," August 3, 2017
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 United States Congress, "PN 878 — Leonard Steven Grasz — The Judiciary," accessed August 4, 2017
- ↑ The White House, "Eighteen nominations sent to the Senate today," August 3, 2017
- ↑ Senate Judiciary Committee, "Questionnaire for judicial nominees," accessed April 21, 2020
- ↑ Federal Judicial Center, "Grasz, Leonard Steven," accessed April 16, 2020
- ↑ American Bar Association, "Ratings of Article III and Article IV judicial nominees," accessed April 16, 2020
- ↑ American Bar Association, "Statement of Pamela A. Bresnahan on behalf of the Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary, American Bar Association, concerning the nomination of Leonard Steven Grasz to be judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit before the Committee on Judiciary, United States Senate," October 30, 2017
- ↑ ABA Journal, "ABA committee explains its 'not qualified' rating for 8th Circuit nominee," October 31, 2017
- ↑ Senate Judiciary Committee, "Nominations," accessed November 13, 2017
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 The Los Angeles Times, "Trump is dangerously cutting corners in his quest to remake the Judiciary," November 14, 2017
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 Politico, "Republicans step up defense of ‘not qualified’ judicial nominees," December 10, 2017
- ↑ The White House, "WSJ Editorial Board: "Ruling Out the ABA on Judges," November 14, 2017
- ↑ U.S. News & World Report, "Senate OKs 2 Lawyers ABA Says Are ‘Not Qualified’," November 9, 2017
- ↑ YouTube, "Ben Sasse takes apart the ABA's smear campaign against Steve Grasz," November 2, 2017
- ↑ Senate Judiciary Committee, "Prepared Statement of Senator Chuck Grassley," November 16, 2017
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 National Review, "Who is Steve Grasz?" accessed August 9, 2017
| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by - |
United States Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit 2018-Present |
Succeeded by - |
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| 2017 |
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