Rudofsky loses way on path to Eighth Circuit, Hiland picks up the trail

A White House official announcement late Tuesday heralded news that Lee Rudofsky, a U.S. District Court judge in Little Rock, is no longer in the running for a promotion to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals.

It looks like Cody Hiland will be the nominee instead. Hiland joined the Arkansas Supreme Court as an appointee of Gov. Sarah Sanders in 2023 and was elected to the state’s highest court in 2026. Hiland served as chair of the Republican Party of Arkansas from 2022 until his appointment to the state Supreme Court.

Rudofsky has been a federal judge in Little Rock since being appointed during the first Donald Trump administration in 2019. A conservative Federalist Society type, Rudofsky earned some infamy in 2022 when he issued a landmark ruling in Arkansas State Conference of the NAACP v. Arkansas Board of Apportionment, a case challenging a redistricting round that diced up the progressive Pulaski County voting bloc of Black voters among three of the state’s four congressional districts. Rudofsky’s take? Too bad. Private citizens and civil rights groups have no standing to sue over such violations of the Voting Rights Act, he said.

Sen. John Boozman (R-Arkansas) had declined to support Rudofsky for the appeals court position, according to Bloomberg.

The swap-out of Hiland for Rudofsky comes after months of whispers in the Arkansas legal and political communities, after Hiland spilled some interesting background a few months ago at the fall pinning ceremony for the William H. Bowen School of Law.

Hiland had been approached and offered the appellate seat, he told students. You can find these remarks at the 17:20 mark here.) He talked with senators, went to D.C., met with the Department of Justice folks and thought he had the nomination in the bag, Hiland told them.

Hiland said he was expecting a call from the president with a job offer to the Eighth Circuit, but got a call from White House counsel offering a district judgeship instead.

Clearly, there have been some behind-the-scenes machinations since then.

It’s not a done deal, by any stretch. Hiland will still need Senate confirmation, which might be tough to squeeze in before the Democrats take over.