Soon after Judge Duane Benton informed President Donald Trump he was stepping back from his judicial duties on the 8th Circuit, AFA Action was ready with a possible replacement: attorney Erin Morrow Hawley.
Talking about Hawley’s qualifications on American Family Radio, Walker Wildmon of AFA Action said she is currently senior counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom. Before that the Yale Law School graduate worked as an appellate attorney and was senior legal fellow at the Independent Women’s Law Center.
"She's argued before the Supreme Court and multiple lower courts," said Wildmon. "She shares our worldview. That's important to us as we do our research."
Hawley’s legal record was thoroughly researched by the Center for Judicial Renewal, the legal arm at AFA Action. It reviewed Hawley’s legal arguments in several religious liberty cases, such as Little Sisters of the Poor and the 303 Creative lawsuit. She also litigated the landmark Dobbs ruling, which overturned Roe v. Wade.
“The time is now to identify a strong, constitutionalist nominee," Wildmon told show host Jenna Ellis.
Hawley is the wife Josh Hawley, the U.S. senator, whom she met when they both clerked for Supreme Court Justice John Roberts.
Judge Benton informed President Trump in October he planned to move to senior status, a form of self-retirement in which senior judges may take on or preside over fewer cases.
The 8th Circuit includes Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota.
