Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Monday named state Republican Party chairman and former federal prosecutor Cody Hiland to the Arkansas Supreme Court, giving it a conservative majority as justices prepare to take up a challenge to her education overhaul.
Hiland was appointed to fill the vacancy created by the death of Justice Robin Wynne last month and will hold the seat until 2025 when a newly elected justice takes office. Hiland can’t run in next year’s election for the seat since he was appointed.
The appointment pushes further to the right a court that’s been the focus of expensive and heated races in recent years. Arkansas’ Supreme Court seats are nonpartisan, but conservative groups have spent heavily over the years trying to flip control of the seven-member court.
