Abbott Aims to Deepen State’s Supreme Court Bench: Texas Brief

Good news for those of you who enjoy beating California: Texas now boasts more former US Supreme Court clerks on the state’s highest bench than any other. (We were previously tied with the Golden State).

Texas secured this win when Gov. Greg Abbott appointed Kyle Hawkins, an appellate attorney and former state solicitor general who has never been a judge, to the state Supreme Court last year.

Abbott’s the first Texas governor to add former SCOTUS clerks to the state’s highest court. He’s tapped three including Hawkins since 2015, Ryan Autullo reports. Justices are appointed when there’s a mid-term ...