L. Steven Grasz

On August 3, 2017, President Donald Trump nominated Grasz to serve as a United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, to the seat vacated by Judge William J. Riley, who assumed senior status on June 30, 2017. On November 1, 2017, a hearing on his nomination was held before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

In October 2017, the American Bar Association's Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary, an entity which rates judicial nominees, unanimously voted to give Grasz a "not qualified" rating for the position. In a statement, the chair of the ABA's standing committee that reviews nominees said that Grasz's "temperament issues, particularly bias and lack of open-mindedness, were problematic". Grasz was the first nominee to receive a unanimous "not qualified" rating since 2006. Nebraskan Senators Ben Sasse and Deb Fischer defended Grasz's reputation and accused the ABA of conducting a biased evaluation "based on limited facts." Grasz's nomination carried the support of former U.S. Senator and Governor of Nebraska Ben Nelson and former U.S. Attorney for the District of Nebraska Deborah R. Gilg, both Democrats.

On November 15, 2017, Pamela Bresnahan, the chair of the ABA's Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary, testified before the U.S. Senate in order to explain the organization's vetting of Grasz. In his confirmation hearing, Grasz had testified that the ABA's review process was unprofessional. On November 30, 2017, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley stated that follow-up materials from Grasz "appear to indicate that the ABA relied on faulty information in their evaluation." Upon the request of the Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein, the committee vote on Grasz's nomination was delayed for one week.

On December 7, 2017, his nomination was reported out of committee by a 11–9 vote. On December 11, 2017, the Senate voted 48–47 to invoke cloture on his nomination. On December 12, 2017, the full United States Senate voted 50–48 in favor of confirmation; the vote was along party lines with Senators John McCain and Thad Cochran absent. He received his judicial commission on January 3, 2018.

In 2017, Grasz was part of the state chapter of the Federalist Society, joining the Nebraska Lawyers Chapter Steering Committee.

A graduate of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and the University of Nebraska College of Law, Grasz spent eleven years as the state of Nebraska's Chief Deputy Attorney General. He was a senior partner at the law firm of Husch Blackwell prior to his appointment to the federal judiciary.

Grasz received his Bachelor of Science, cum laude, in agriculture from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in 1984. He received his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Nebraska College of Law in 1989, where he was inducted into the Order of the Coif, served as the executive editor of the Nebraska Law Review, and received the Roscoe Pound Award for his selection as top oral advocate in his class.

In 2002, Grasz joined the Omaha office of Husch Blackwell. He was named senior partner in 2013. While in private practice, Grasz challenged a state constitutional provision restricting ownership of agricultural land under the Commerce Clause.

Grasz began his career as an intern and legislative assistant to Virginia D. Smith, a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives who represented Nebraska's 3rd congressional district from 1975 to 1991 and was the first woman from Nebraska to hold a seat in the U.S. House. Grasz went on to spend two years as an associate at Kutak Rock.

Leonard Steven Grasz (born November 1, 1961) is an American lawyer and a United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.