Erin Morrow Hawley, the wife of Missouri Senate candidate Josh Hawley, is a law professor who met her husband at an Ivy League law school.
Josh Hawley is Missouri’s Attorney General but he’s trying to oust Democrat Claire McCaskill from her seat in the U.S. Senate. He is now projected to have won the election. The race is one of the mostly closely watched Senate races in the country as Democrats try to seize control. Polls showed the election tied.
Here’s what you need to know:
1. Erin Hawley Clerked for Now Chief Justice John Roberts
According to The Washington Post, both Josh Hawley and his wife, Erin, were clerks for now Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, John Roberts.
Josh and Erin met at Yale Law School, The Post reports. According to a biography for her by the Independent Women’s Forum, Erin Hawley also clerked for Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
She “has litigated extensively before the Supreme Court of the United States as well as numerous federal courts of appeals and state courts of last resort. She has twice argued before the D.C. Court of Appeals and also represented the United States in oral argument before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. Professor Hawley continues to litigate and her work has been widely quoted, including by the Washington Post and USNews,” the bio says.
2. Erin Hawley’s Parents Were Ranchers
Erin Hawley’s parents are fifth-generation New Mexico ranchers, The Post reports. That’s been an asset on the campaign trail as she is comfortable talking to farmers, according to The Post.
The bio for Erin Hawley says she “received her bachelor’s degree in Animal Science from Texas A&M University and her law degree from Yale Law School. During law school, she served as a Coker Fellow (teaching assistant in constitutional law) and on The Yale Law Journal.”
Josh Hawley, as Attorney General, has faced repeated challenges to his residency because state law requires the AG to reside at the state seat. “Hawley’s family home is in nearby Boone County, but he maintains an apartment in Jefferson City,” Kansas City.com reported in 2017.
3. Josh Hawley & His Wife Have Two Sons & a Horse
Josh Hawley is a native of Missouri.
“A native of Lexington, Missouri in rural Lafayette County, Josh graduated from Rockhurst High School in Kansas City. After college and law school, he moved back home to mid-Missouri, where he lives with his wife, Erin, their two boys, Elijah and Blaise, and their horse, Snap,” his campaign bio says.
The couple celebrated Elijah’s 6th birthday on the campaign bus shortly before election day, according to Josh Hawley’s post on Instagram.
Politico reports that Hawley discussed running for Senate with Erin for a month before deciding to do it.
4. Erin Hawley Is a Law Professor Who Has Weighed in on Prominent Legal Issues
According to a bio of her by the Independent Women’s Forum, Erin Morrow Hawley is “an Associate Professor of Law at the University of Missouri. Professor Hawley teaches constitutional litigation, federal income tax, tax policy, and agricultural law. Her scholarship focuses primarily on the federal courts and has been published in numerous top journals.”
Erin Hawley and the boys frequently join Josh Hawley on the campaign trail. “Erin and I having an amazing time with @realDonaldTrump & friends Friday night in Springfield. Now that’s enthusiasm!” he wrote with one Instagram picture.
When Justice Anthony Kennedy retired, Erin Hawley wrote a column about the nomination process. “The job of a federal judge is not to rewrite congressional statutes — imposing their own view of what is best above the representative branches. Nor is it to update the Constitution — making legislative change and innovation impossible,” she wrote.
You can read more of Erin Hawley’s writings here.
5. Erin Morrow Hawley Served as Counsel to an Attorney General of the United States
According to her Independent Women’s Forum bio, Erin Hawley “practiced appellate law at King & Spalding LLP and Kirkland & Ellis LLP, both in Washington, DC. She also worked at the Department of Justice as counsel to Attorney General Michael Mukasey.”