Kyle D. Hawkins

{{Infobox officeholder | name = Kyle Hawkins | office = Justice of the Texas Supreme Court | term_start = October 24, 2025 | term_end = | predecessor = Jeffrey S. Boyd | successor = | office1 = 7th Solicitor General of Texas | governor1 = Greg Abbott | term_start1 = September 10, 2018 | term_end1 = February 1, 2021 | predecessor1 = Scott A. Keller | successor1 = Judd E. Stone II | birth_name = Kyle Douglas Hawkins | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1980|5|6}} | birth_place = Johannesburg, South Africa | death_date = | death_place = | party = Republican | education = Harvard University (BA)<br>University of Minnesota (JD) }} '''Kyle Douglas Hawkins''' (born May 6, 1980)<ref>{{cite web |last1=Fatina |first1=Marina |title=The Only Lawyer to Win All Five En Banc Cases Before the Fifth Circuit Just Joined Texas’ Highest Court |url=https://thetexasinsider.com/the-only-lawyer-to-win-all-five-en-banc-cases-before-the-fifth-circuit-just-joined-texas-highest-court/ |website=The Texas Insider |access-date=November 19, 2025 |date=October 26, 2025}}</ref> is an American attorney and professor who has served as a Justice of the Texas Supreme Court since October 2025.<ref name= "Hawkins">{{citeweb|last=Klibanoff|first=Eleanor|url=https://www.texastribune.org/2025/10/24/texas-supreme-court-kyle-hawkins-solicitor-general-abbott/|title=Former Texas Solicitor General Kyle Hawkins appointed to Texas Supreme Court|access-date=October 24, 2025|date=October 24, 2025}}</ref> He also previously served as the Solicitor General of Texas from September 2018 to February 2021. As of 2024, Hawkins serves as adjunct professor at the University of Texas at Austin's law school.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kyle D Hawkins {{!}} Faculty {{!}} Texas Law |url=https://law.utexas.edu/faculty/kyle-d-hawkins/ |access-date=2022-08-09 |website=law.utexas.edu}}</ref>

==Early life and education==

Hawkins was born in Johannesburg, South Africa and immigrated to the United States with his family in 1986.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Elliott |first1=Janet |title=Hot-Button Issues Shaped Kyle Hawkins’ Advocacy |url=https://texaslawbook.net/hot-button-issues-shaped-kyle-hawkins-advocacy/ |access-date=1 March 2026 |work=The Texas Lawbook |date=5 February 2026}}</ref> He graduated from Edina High School in Edina, Minnesota in 1998, and then attended Harvard University, where he received a bachelor's degree ''magna cum laude'' in 2002. He then worked as a management consultant in Chicago for two years, before moving to Japan for another two years to teach English. In 2006, Hawkins returned to Minnesota to attend the University of Minnesota Law School where he served as the editor-in-chief of the ''Minnesota Law Review'' and graduated ''summa cum laude'' in 2009 with a Juris Doctor degree.<ref name=Innsofcourt>{{cite web|url=https://home.innsofcourt.org/AIC/Awards_and_Scholarships/Temple_Bar_Scholarships/Temple_Bar_Scholarship_Reports/2014_Kyle_Douglas_Hawkins.aspx|title=Kyle Douglas Hawkins:2014 Temple Bar Scholar Report|website=American Inns of Court}}</ref><ref name="SunCurrent">{{cite news |last=Kaczke |first=Lisa |date=2013-07-17 |title=Clerking for the Supreme Court |url=https://www.hometownsource.com/sun_current/news/local/clerking-for-the-supreme-court/article_1b7e6c7d-5d6a-5e4e-a791-93eeed281da9.html |work=Sun Current |location=Edina, Minnesota |access-date=2020-09-18}}</ref>

==Legal career== After law school, Hawkins worked briefly at Faegre Baker Daniels before serving as a law clerk for Judge Edith Jones on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in 2010. Following this clerkship, he worked for Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in Washington, D.C. before serving as a law clerk for Justice Samuel Alito of the United States Supreme Court during the 2013–14 term. He then rejoined Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, where he practiced law through their Dallas, Texas office before joining the Texas Attorney General's office in 2017, as an assistant solicitor general. In September 2018, he was appointed Solicitor General of Texas by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to succeed Scott A. Keller.<ref name="SunCurrent"/><ref>{{cite news|last=Platoff|first=Emma|date=2018-09-19|title=As solicitor general, Kyle Hawkins will lead Texas fights against the federal government|url=https://www.texastribune.org/2018/09/19/Texas-solicitor-general-kyle-hawkins-scott-keller-ken-paxton/| work=Texas Tribune|access-date=2020-09-19}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Lindell|first=Chuck|title=New Texas solicitor general named|url=https://www.statesman.com/NEWS/20180910/New-Texas-solicitor-general-named|access-date=2020-10-13|website=Austin American-Statesman|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Kyle Hawkins elevated to succeed Scott Keller as Texas solicitor general|work=Longview News-Journal| url=https://www.news-journal.com/blogs/staff/potomac_in_the_pines/kyle-hawkins-elevated-to-succeed-scott-keller-as-texas-solicitor/article_fd562bb0-b50d-11e8-a7d3-1bbb6f4158a9.html|access-date=2020-09-18}}</ref>

In his role as the state's solicitor general, Hawkins represented Texas in cases before state and federal appellate courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court.<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.congress.gov/116/meeting/house/109701/witnesses/HHRG-116-JU10-Bio-HawkinsK-20190625.pdf| title=Kyle D. Hawkins, Solicitor General of Texas| date =2019-06-25| website=Congress.gov| access-date =2020-09-18}}</ref> In 2018, Hawkins argued on behalf of 36 states seeking to uphold the separate sovereignty exception in ''Gamble v. United States''.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/argument_transcripts/2018/17-646_1bn2.pdf |title=Transcript of Oral Arguments in Gamble v. United States |date=2018-12-06 |location=US Supreme Court |access-date=2020-09-18 |quote="KYLE D. HAWKINS, Texas Solicitor General, Austin, Texas; for Texas, et al., as amici curiae, in support of affirmance."}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Barnes|first=Robert|title=Supreme Court seems reluctant to prohibit state and federal prosecutions of same crime|date=2018-12-06|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts_law/supreme-court-seems-reluctant-to-prohibit-state-and-federal-prosecutions-of-same-crime/2018/12/06/78f0d820-f982-11e8-863c-9e2f864d47e7_story.html|access-date=2020-09-18|newspaper=Washington Post|quote="Texas Solicitor General Kyle D. Hawkins said the status quo was working well and meant state and federal prosecutors cooperate rather than compete. He said he was representing 36 states, with about 86 percent of the country’s population. He noted 20 states bar prosecutions when there was already a federal conviction. 'The states may disagree with one another about various policy issues, but we are united here in urging the court not to overrule its long-standing interpretation of the Double Jeopardy Clause,' he said."}}</ref> A 2020 speech he gave at Stanford University Law School regarding the legality of the federal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy was the subject of a student walk-out.<ref>{{cite news|last=Ingram|first=Julia|title=Students walk out of Law School talk on legality of repealing DACA|date=2020-02-11|url=https://www.stanforddaily.com/2020/02/11/students-walk-out-of-law-school-talk-on-legality-of-repealing-daca/|access-date=2020-09-18}}</ref> Hawkins notably refused to join Ken Paxton's attempt to overturn the 2020 U.S. presidential election in Texas v. Pennsylvania.<ref>{{cite web| title=Former Solicitor General of Texas Kyle Hawkins Returns to Gibson Dunn| url=https://www.gibsondunn.com/former-solicitor-general-of-texas-kyle-hawkins-returns-to-gibson-dunn/| website=gibsondunn.com| date=April 5, 2021| access-date=Feb 26, 2026}}</ref>

Following this, Hawkins resigned from office effective February 1, 2021, and was succeeded by Judd E. Stone II.<ref>{{Cite press release|title=AG Paxton Announces Appointment of Judd Stone to Solicitor General and Departure of Kyle Hawkins|url=https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/news/releases/ag-paxton-announces-appointment-judd-stone-solicitor-general-and-departure-kyle-hawkins|date=January 13, 2021|agency=Texas Attorney General's Office|access-date=February 1, 2021}}</ref> He then rejoined Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher as a partner in its Houston, Texas office.<ref>{{cite web| title=Former Solicitor General of Texas Kyle Hawkins Returns to Gibson Dunn| url=https://www.gibsondunn.com/former-solicitor-general-of-texas-kyle-hawkins-returns-to-gibson-dunn/| website=gibsondunn.com| date=April 5, 2021| access-date=March 3, 2022}}</ref>

== Texas Supreme Court ==

On October 24, 2025, Governor Greg Abbott appointed Hawkins to the Texas Supreme Court to replace Jeffrey S. Boyd.<ref name= "Hawkins"/>

==References== {{Reflist}}

{{s-start}} {{s-legal}} {{s-bef|before=Jeffrey S. Boyd}} {{s-ttl|title=Justice of the Texas Supreme Court|years=2025–present}} {{s-inc}} {{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hawkins, Kyle D.}} Category:Edina High School alumni Category:Harvard College alumni Category:Justices of the Supreme Court of Texas Category:Law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States Category:Living people Category:People associated with Gibson Dunn Category:Solicitors general of Texas Category:Texas lawyers Category:Texas Republicans Category:University of Minnesota Law School alumni Category:Year of birth missing (living people)