David Stras

David Ryan Stras (born July 4, 1974) is a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. He is a former Associate Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court. Early life and education Stras was born in 1974 in Wichita, Kansas. He graduated from the University of Kansas in 1995 with a Bachelor of Arts with highest honors. He then jointly attended the University of Kansas's School of Law and School of Business, receiving a JD–MBA in 1999. As a law student, Stras was editor-in-chief of the Criminal Procedure Edition of the Kansas Law Review, and he received his law degree with Order of the Coif honors. Legal career Stras was a law clerk for judge Melvin Brunetti of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit from 1999 to 2000, then for judge J. Michael Luttig of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit from 2000 to 2001. After spending a year in private practice at the Washington, D.C. office of Sidley Austin, Stras then clerked for Justice Clarence Thomas of the U.S. Supreme Court from 2002 to 2003. Stras was a fellow at the University of Alabama School of Law from 2003 to 2004. From 2004 to 2010, Stras was a professor of law at the University of Minnesota Law School, teaching and writing in the areas of federal courts and jurisdiction, constitutional law, criminal law, and law and politics. He won the law school's Stanley V. Kinyon Tenure Track Teacher of the Year Award in 2006. While he was on the faculty of University of Minnesota Law School, he was also a counsel at Faegre & Bensen. Stras also served as co-director of the Institute for Law and Politics. He has contributed to research on such topics as judicial pensions and life tenure for judges. Stras has also studied judicial appointments and the politics of courts. He is a member of the Federalist Society.