Mr. Grasz was nominated to the US Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit by President Trump. His nomination hearing before the Senate Judicial Committee was recently held. The ABA unanimously rated Mr. Grasz 'Not Qualified'. Of the 42 nominees that President Trump has nominated for judge, 40 of 42 have been rated by the ABA as 'Qualified' or 'Very Qualified'. Some of the conclusions of the ABA Grasz investigation were:
"The ABA interviewed several colleagues of Grasz, who was Nebraska’s chief deputy attorney general for 11 years, as part of its evaluation of his fitness to be a judge. Some described him as “gratuitously rude.” Others expressed an “unusual fear” of consequences if they said anything bad about him because of his “deep connection and allegiance” to powerful politicians in Nebraska.
ABA members also raised concerns that Grasz would be “unable to separate his role as an advocate from that of a judge,” given his record on such issues as abortion. Among other things, he defended Nebraska’s ban on partial-birth abortion, and, in a 1999 article, he argued that lower courts should be able to overrule Supreme Court decisions on abortion rights because “abortion jurisprudence is, to a significant extent, a word game.”
The ABA will be testifying before the Judicial Committee later this month.