David Ryan Stras

David Ryan Stras (born 1974) is an American jurist who serves as an active circuit judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. Prior to his appointment to the federal bench, he was a justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court and spent six years teaching law at the University of Minnesota. His career has combined extensive academic work, service in state courts, and experience clerking for judges at multiple levels of the federal judiciary.

Early life and legal career

Stras was born in 1974 in Wichita, Kansas, to parents who identified as Jewish American. He pursued his undergraduate studies at the University of Kansas, graduating in 1995 with a Bachelor of Arts earned with highest honors. Continuing at the same institution, he enrolled in a joint program that awarded both a Juris Doctor and a Master of Business Administration in 1999. While a law student, he held the position of editor‑in‑chief for the Criminal Procedure Edition of the Kansas Law Review and graduated with Order of the Coif distinction.

Following law school, Stras entered the federal clerkship system. He first served from 1999 to 2000 as a law clerk to Judge Melvin Brunetti of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The next year he clerked for Judge J. Michael Luttig on the Fourth Circuit. After a brief period in private practice with the Washington, D.C., office of Sidley Austin, he returned to the judiciary as a clerk for Justice Clarence Thomas of the United States Supreme Court from 2002 to 2003.

In 2003 Stras became a fellow at the University of Alabama School of Law, a position he held until moving to Minnesota in 2004. That year marked the beginning of his tenure as a professor of law at the University of Minnesota Law School, where he taught courses on federal courts and jurisdiction, constitutional law, criminal law, and the intersection of law and politics. His teaching was recognized with the Stanley V. Kinyon Tenure‑Track Teacher of the Year Award in 2006. While on faculty, Stras also worked as counsel for the Minneapolis firm Faegre & Bensen and co‑directed the Institute for Law and Politics. His scholarly output includes research on judicial pensions, life tenure for judges, and the political dynamics surrounding judicial appointments. He is a member of the Federalist Society, reflecting his engagement with broader legal discourse.

Stras’s transition from academia to the bench occurred when Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty appointed him to the state’s highest court. His term as an associate justice began on July 1, 2010, and he was sworn in publicly on July 12 of that year. In 2012 he secured election to a six‑year term on the Minnesota Supreme Court. During his time on the state bench, Stras frequently appeared on Minnesota Public Radio to discuss legal issues, underscoring his public‑facing role as an interpreter of the law. He was later listed among President Donald Trump’s potential nominees for the United States Supreme Court.

Federal appellate service

President Donald J. Trump nominated Stras on May 8, 2017 to fill a vacancy on the Eighth Circuit created when Judge Diana E. Murphy assumed senior status on November 29, 2016. The nomination encountered an early procedural hurdle when Minnesota Senator Al Franken announced on September 5, 2017 that he would not return his blue slip, a traditional senatorial courtesy that can affect judicial confirmations.

The Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on Stras’s nomination on November 29, 2017. Under the rules governing pending nominations, his initial submission was returned to the president on January 3, 2018. President Trump promptly announced his intent to renominate Stras on January 5, and the renewed nomination was formally transmitted to the Senate on January 8.

The committee reported Stras’s nomination out of its deliberations on January 18, 2018, with a vote tally of thirteen in favor and eight against. The full Senate subsequently invoked cloture on his nomination on January 29 by a vote of fifty‑seven to forty‑one, thereby limiting further debate. On the following day, the Senate confirmed Stras by a vote of fifty‑six to forty‑two. He received his judicial commission on January 31, 2018 and has served continuously as an active circuit judge for the Eighth Circuit since that time.

Jurisprudence and legacy

Since joining the federal appellate bench, Judge Stras has contributed opinions that illuminate his analytical approach to statutory interpretation, constitutional protections, and the proper boundaries of governmental authority. In August 2018 he authored a concurring opinion addressing the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s statutory power to place Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into conservatorship and require quarterly payments of their net worth to the Treasury. While acknowledging the clarity of the governing statute, Stras warned that Congress had endowed the agency with exceptionally broad powers insulated from judicial review, describing the result as a “monster” in terms of unchecked authority.

A year later, in August 2019, he wrote for the panel in a case involving a Christian videography business that refused to produce wedding videos for same‑sex marriages. Stras concluded that compelling the business owners to create such recordings would constitute forced speech, violating both the Free Exercise Clause and First Amendment principles against compelled expression.

In November 2019, Stras filed a concurring opinion in a challenge to an Arkansas anti‑loitering statute. He argued that the district court’s statewide injunction represented an unwarranted “universal preliminary injunction,” emphasizing historical equity practice that limits such injunctive relief to the specific parties before the court rather than extending it broadly.

Stras has also been an outspoken dissenter on matters concerning administrative interpretation and standing. In November 2021, he sharply criticized a majority opinion for deferring to the North Dakota Department of Public Health’s reading of a Clean Air Act regulation originally issued by the Environmental Protection Agency. He contended that allowing a state agency to interpret federal regulatory text undermines separation of powers and federalism by delegating interpretive authority away from courts equipped to resolve such questions.

When the Eighth Circuit later issued an opinion directly interpreting the same regulation in June 2021, Stras again dissented, praising the majority for exercising independent judgment but maintaining that their textual analysis was incorrect. His dissent highlighted a consistent concern for rigorous statutory construction free from external influence.

During the COVID‑19 pandemic, Stras joined a panel decision concerning public health restrictions on religious gatherings. In July 2021 he dissented from the ruling that members of a St. Louis church lacked standing to challenge a county order limiting the size of such assemblies. His dissent underscored the importance of ensuring that parties with genuine interests can seek judicial review of governmental actions affecting constitutional rights.

Beyond his written opinions, Judge Stras’s legacy is shaped by his blend of scholarly insight and practical adjudication. His academic background informs a methodical approach to legal questions, often emphasizing historical context, textual fidelity, and institutional balance. The breadth of his experience—from clerking at the Supreme Court to teaching law students and serving on a state supreme court—provides a multifaceted perspective that continues to influence the development of jurisprudence within the Eighth Circuit.

As an active member of the federal judiciary, Stras remains engaged in shaping legal doctrine across a range of issues, from administrative authority to First Amendment freedoms. His contributions reflect a commitment to careful statutory interpretation and a cautious view of expansive governmental power, themes that have recurred throughout his judicial writings. The combination of his academic scholarship, state‑level judicial service, and ongoing appellate work positions him as a notable figure in contemporary American jurisprudence.