On Oct. 24, Judge Duane Benton of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit informed President Trump he would be taking senior status. The time is now to identify a strong, constitutionalist nominee for the Eighth Circuit. Erin Morrow Hawley is that nominee.
Hawley is senior counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) and vice president of ADF’s Center for Life & Regulatory Practice. Prior to joining ADF, Hawley was an appellate attorney at Kirkland & Ellis, Bancroft and King & Spalding.
Hawley has a wealth of experience litigating before the United States Supreme Court as well as the federal courts of appeals. She has been a professor of constitutional litigation, taxation and agricultural law, and much of her scholarship has been dedicated to the federal courts.
Hawley also is a former senior legal fellow at Independent Women’s Law Center. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Texas A&M University and received her law degree from Yale. She previously served as a law clerk to Justice John G. Roberts on the U.S. Supreme Court and to Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
In fact, Erin and her husband, Sen. Josh Hawley, clerked together at the U.S. Supreme Court.
Most importantly, Erin Hawley has a record that exemplifies a commitment to the proper role of judges and the Constitution, and displays demonstrable courage in major cultural and legal battles, including life, religious freedom, marriage and others. Hawley wrote that an ideal Supreme Court Justice would have “commitment to the Constitution or to the text of a statute.”
On another occasion, Hawley argued, “A federal judge should not impose her own policy preferences or morals.”
Hawley is fervently committed to religious liberty. She shared regarding Coach Kennedy, a high school football coach fired for praying silently on the field after games, “School employees do not check their religious liberty rights at the schoolhouse door.”
The Independent Women’s Law Center, of which Hawley was previously a fellow, filed an amicus brief in Little Sisters of the Poor, urging the Supreme Court to hold that the Catholic order was exempt from the Affordable Care Act’s contraceptive mandate. Hawley said of the brief, “It is time for the Supreme Court to hold that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act requires a religious exemption to the Affordable Care Act. That’s the only way to [ensure] the conscience rights of women like the Little Sisters are firmly and permanently protected.”
She also commented about 303 Creative, a case about whether Colorado could force a Christian website designer to make same-sex wedding websites, “303 Creative tests whether that foundational principle [of freedom of speech] remains true today. It is about much more than marriage. For the sake of all Americans, it is imperative that the Supreme Court preserve our right to choose when to speak and when to remain silent.”
Additionally, Hawley is an ardent supporter of the dignity of life. She litigated Dobbs, calling overturning Roe v. Wade the “project of a lifetime.” She has recognized that states have a legitimate interest in the “preservation of prenatal life at all stages of development,” and acknowledged the activist nature of a so-called “right to abortion,” explaining, “no textual provision even remotely provides a right to an abortion nor can one be inferred from that text or our Nation’s history — a history in which States have long protected life.”
Hawley wrote an article opposing gender reassignment surgery for minors, warning, “childhood gender transition hormones and surgeries come with serious and often irreversible physical consequences.” She also defended the integrity and safety of women’s sports. In an article, Hawley called attention to the excessive expansion of the administrative state.
Lastly, Hawley boldly opposed President Biden’s Executive Order requiring federal contractors to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
Mrs. Hawley presents the opportunity for the Eighth Circuit nominee to meet the highest constitutional standard for judges. Her courageous record proves she is demonstrably committed to upholding the Constitution, applying the law as written, and never legislating from the bench.
There are other excellent Missouri prospects available, such as Solicitor General John Sauer or Co-Deputy Director of the FBI Andrew Bailey. But we are hopeful President Trump and Missouri’s senators will seriously consider Erin Morrow Hawley for nomination to the Eighth Circuit, as we continue to pray for the transformative restoration of our federal judiciary.
Walker Wildmon serves as a Vice President of American Family Association (AFA) and as a spokesperson for AFA. He has been quoted by CNN, Fox News and other major news outlets. He also serves as Chief Executive Officer and Member of the Board of Directors of AFA Action. Wildmon graduated from Mississippi State University with a degree in political science. He lives in Tupelo, Mississippi with his wife Lexie and their five children.
