Former Texas Solicitor General Kyle Hawkins has been appointed to the Texas Supreme Court by Gov. Greg Abbott. He will replace Justice Jeff Boyd, who retired in June.
Hawkins served as Texas’ top appellate attorney for two and a half years, representing the state in high-profile cases at the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the U.S. Supreme Court and the Texas Supreme Court.
He resigned from that role in 2021, soon after Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit to the U.S. Supreme Court challenging the results of the 2020 election, which notably lacked Hawkins’ signature. That case was swiftly dismissed by the Supreme Court.
But that doesn’t seem to have slowed his ascent, as he joined former Texas Solicitor General Scott Keller in arguing high-profile cases in private practice. Earlier this year, he served in the solicitor general’s office at the U.S. Department of Justice for a three-month period, according to his LinkedIn. While there, he argued at the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of the federal government that states should be allowed to remove Planned Parenthood from their Medicaid programs.
“Hawkins’ tremendous experience will be an asset to the highest court in Texas as he remains steadfast in his dedication to the rule of law and the preservation of the liberties granted by God and enshrined by our founders,” Abbott said in a statement.
The Texas Supreme Court is the state’s highest civil court, hearing cases involving a range of issues, including challenges to state law. While the court has long been all-Republican, Abbott has reshaped it in recent years, appointing seven of the nine justices, including Hawkins. Hawkins will have to run for a full term next year, when Boyd’s original term was set to expire.
Abbott has frequently mined alumni of his office, most recently promoting his former general counsel, Jimmy Blacklock, to chief justice, and selecting another former general counsel, James Sullivan, to replace him.
While the Texas Office of the Solicitor General has historically been a springboard to success in the conservative legal movement, Hawkins is the first former member of Paxton’s administration that Abbott has appointed to the high court.
Disclosure: Planned Parenthood has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here.
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