Raymond Gruender

Raymond Gruender

Nonpartisan

United States Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit

Tenure

2004 - Present

Years in position

21

Education

Bachelor's

Washington University of St. Louis, 1984

Graduate

Washington University of St. Louis, 1987

Law

Washington University of St. Louis, 1987

Personal

Birthplace

St. Louis, Mo.

Raymond W. Gruender is a federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit. He joined the court on June 5, 2004, after being nominated by former President George W. Bush to a seat vacated by Pasco Bowman. Prior to his appointment, Gruender was a U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri from 2001 to 2004.

Gruender was included on President Donald Trump’s (R) June 2018 list of 25 potential Supreme Court nominees to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy on the court. Trump first released such a list during his 2016 presidential campaign and stated, “This list is definitive and I will choose only from it in picking future Justices of the United States Supreme Court.”

Early life and education

Gruender was born in St. Louis, Missouri. He graduated from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, with his bachelor's degree in 1984. He then went on to earn both his J.D. and his M.B.A. from the same university in 1987.

Professional career

• 2004 - Present: Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit
• 2001-2004: U.S. Attorney, Eastern District of Missouri
• 2000-2001: Assistant U.S. attorney, Eastern District of Missouri
• 1994-2000: Private practice
• 1990-1994: Assistant U.S. attorney, Eastern District of Missouri
• 1987-1990: Private practice

Judicial career

Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals

Nomination Tracker
Nominee Information
Name: Raymond W. Gruender
Court: United States Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit
Progress
Confirmed 234 days after nomination.
ANominated: September 29, 2003
AABA Rating: Unanimously Qualified
Questionnaire:
AHearing: January 22, 2004
Hearing Transcript: Hearing Transcript
QFRs: (Hover over QFRs to read more)
AReported: March 4, 2004
AConfirmed: May 20, 2004
AVote: 97-1

Gruender was nominated to the United States Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit by former President George W. Bush on September 29, 2003, to a seat vacated by Pasco Bowman. The American Bar Association rated Gruender Unanimously Qualified for the nomination. Hearings on Gruender's nomination were held before the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary on January 22, 2004, and his nomination was reported by U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) on March 4, 2004. Gruender was confirmed on a recorded 97-1 vote of the U.S. Senate on May 20, 2004, and he received his commission on June 5, 2004.

Noteworthy cases

Arkansas abortion law (2017)

See also: United States Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit (Planned Parenthood of Arkansas and Eastern Oklahoma d/b/a Planned Parenthood Great Plains et al. v. Jegley, 16-2234)

Judge Raymond Gruender wrote the opinion for a three-judge panel of the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in the case of Planned Parenthood Great Plains et al. v. Jegley. Judge Gruender was joined on the panel by Judge William Riley and District Judge James Gritzner of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa, who was sitting on the panel by designation.

In 2015, Arkansas enacted the Abortion-Inducing Drugs Safety Act (Act), which created new requirements for physicians in Arkansas to prescribe abortion-inducing medications in order to terminate a pregnancy. Section 1504(d) of the Act, the subject of the appeal in this case, required:

“

(1) The physician who gives, sells, dispenses, administers, or otherwise provides or prescribes the abortion-inducing drug shall have a signed contract with a physician who agrees to handle complications and be able to produce that signed contract on demand by the patient or by the Department of Health. (2) The physician who contracts to handle emergencies shall have active admitting privileges and gynecological/surgical privileges at a hospital designated to handle any emergencies associated with the use or ingestion of the abortion-inducing drug. (3) Every pregnant woman to whom a physician gives, sells, dispenses, administers, or otherwise provides or prescribes any abortion-inducing drug shall receive the name and phone number of the contracted physician and the hospital at which that physician maintains admitting privileges and which can handle any emergencies.

”

Days before the Act was to take effect, Planned Parenthood of Arkansas and Eastern Oklahoma, which does business as Planned Parenthood Great Plains (PPGP), and one of PPGP's physicians, Dr. Stephanie Ho, filed a lawsuit in federal court seeking a judicial order to prevent enforcement of the Act. On March 14, 2016, Judge Kristine Gerhard Baker issued a preliminary injunction enjoining enforcement of the Act after holding that the Act's contract-physician requirement "provided few, if any, tangible medical benefits over Planned Parenthood's continuity-of-care protocols such that 'the [S]tate's overall interest in the regulation of medication abortions through the [contract-physician] requirement is low and not compelling.'" Arkansas appealed Judge Baker's order to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals.

In his opinion for a three-judge panel, Judge Raymond Gruender vacated the district court's order and remanded the case for further proceedings. Judge Gruender held that,

“

in order to sustain a facial challenge and grant a preliminary injunction, the district court was required to make a finding that the Act’s contract-physician requirement is an undue burden for a large fraction of women seeking medication abortions in Arkansas. The district court did not make this finding. The court correctly held that individuals for whom the contract-physician requirement was an actual, rather than an irrelevant, restriction were women seeking medication abortions in Arkansas. Nonetheless, it did not define or estimate the number of women who would be unduly burdened by the contract-physician requirement. ... As a result, we are left with no concrete district court findings estimating the number of women who would be unduly burdened by the contract-physician requirement—either because they would forgo the procedure or postpone it—and whether they constitute a 'large fraction' of women seeking medication abortions in Arkansas such that Planned Parenthood could prevail in its facial challenge to the contract-physician requirement. ... on remand, the district court should conduct fact finding concerning the number of women unduly burdened by the contract-physician requirement and determine whether that number constitutes a 'large fraction.'

”

Possible Donald Trump nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court

See also: Possible nominees to replace Anthony Kennedy on the United States Supreme Court

See also: Process to fill the vacated seat of Justice Antonin Scalia

2018

Gruender was listed by President Donald Trump (R) as a potential Supreme Court nominee to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy. Kennedy announced he would retire from the court effective July 31, 2018. Trump ultimately chose Brett Kavanaugh as the nominee. Click here to learn more.

2017

On November 17, 2017, Gruender was included in a third list of individuals from which President Donald Trump would choose to fill vacancies on the U.S. Supreme Court.

A White House statement announcing the nominees stated,

“

One year ago, President Donald J. Trump was elected to restore the rule of law and to Make the Judiciary Great Again. Following the successful confirmation of Justice Neil M. Gorsuch to the Supreme Court of the United States and the nomination of more than seventy Federal judges—including five individuals from his Supreme Court list—President Trump today announced that he is refreshing his Supreme Court list with five additional judges. President Trump will choose a nominee for a future Supreme Court vacancy, should one arise, from this updated list of 25 individuals. The President remains deeply committed to identifying and selecting outstanding jurists in the mold of Justice Gorsuch. These additions, like those on the original list released more than a year ago, were selected with input from respected conservative leaders.

”

See also

• United States Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit

External links

• Judge Gruender's biography from the Federal Judicial Center

Footnotes

Political offices
Preceded by -	United States Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit 2004-Present	Succeeded by -