Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders appointed former U.S. Attorney Cody Hiland of Little Rock to the Arkanaas Supreme Court to fill the vacancy created by the death of state Supreme Court Justice Robin Wynne, the Republican governor announced Monday morning.
Hiland has served as chairman of the Republican Party of Arkansas since December. First Vice Chairman John Parke said Monday that he and party Secretary Julie Harris received Hiland's letter of resignation as party chairman Monday morning.
"Under our Party Rules, I will take on the roles of Chairman and First Vice Chairman," Parke said in a written statement to Republicans. "We have a lot of work underway, with both the annual Reagan-Rockefeller Dinner and Summer State Committee Meeting next month."
Hiland served as U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas from 2017 to 2020 after being appointed to the position by then-President Donald J. Trump. He was previously the prosecuting attorney for the 20th Judicial District, covering Faulkner, Van Buren and Searcy counties, and served as an aide to then-Republican Gov. Mike Huckabee, who is Sanders' father
Hiland worked on Sanders' campaign after departing as chief counsel at the state Department of Public Safety, where he had worked from June of 2021 until September 2022.
Wynne died June 21 at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences surrounded by family, according to the Roller-Chenal Funeral Home. He was 70. He was first elected to the state Supreme Court in 2014 and won a eight-year term on the state's high court in November, beating Conway District Judge Chris Carnahan.
Under Amendment 29 to the Arkansas Constitution, the governor is responsible for appointing a replacement when a vacancy occurs on the court.
Hiland will serve on the state's high court until an elected justice takes office to fill the remainder of Wynne's term.
Sanders said her appointment of Hiland to the state Supreme Court gives the state's high court a conservative majority for the first time.
“I know it will have the same effect on our state as it has had on our country," she said.
“Cody’s highest loyalty will be to the constitution and the rule of law,” Sanders said. “That’s all we can ask from our justices, and that is all I have asked of him.”
Hiland thanked Sanders for the faith that she has placed in him to serve as an associate justice on the Arkansas Supreme Court.
“I have been given a tremendous privilege to serve the people of this state, and I am both humbled by that opportunity and sobered by the responsibility in front of me,” he said.
He said he has a good relationship “with just about everybody on the [state Supreme Court and] I look forward to working with them.”
Sanders’ appointment came three days after Pulaski County Circuit Judge Hebert Wright ruled that Sanders’ signature education law — the LEARNS Act — won’t take effect until Aug. 1, delaying implementation of most of the law which had been in place since early March. The lawsuit, filed May 8, aims to delay when the LEARNS Act can take effect. Attorney General Tim Griffin filed an appeal of the judge’s ruling Monday with the state Supreme Court.
At a news conference in the Old Supreme Courtroom in the state Capitol with Hiland and his wife, Jana Hiland, and Sanders’ husband, First Gentleman Bryan Sanders, at her side, the governor said “Today, like so many times before, Cody is stepping up again and making another sacrifice to serve the people of Arkansas.
“It will be impossible to fill Justice Wynne’s shoes on the Supreme Court, but Cody’s decades of experience, even temperament and love for our state and the rule of law bring him closer than anyone else could,” she said. “He will be there to call balls and strikes, interpreting state law as it was written, and leaving the legislating to the Legislature.”