LITTLE ROCK, AR - Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders today announced that Cole Jester will serve as Arkansas’ Secretary of State. Jester will replace Secretary of State John Thurston, who will be sworn in as Arkansas’ Treasurer in January.
 
“If my team ever needs someone to do a deep dive on the law, prep for a court hearing, or craft a brilliant defense of conservative legal philosophy, one of the first people I always ask is Cole Jester. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that when I was looking for someone to defend election integrity as Secretary of State, Cole Jester was my first choice,” said Governor Sanders. “Cole is incredibly accomplished and smart - and even more importantly, he is honest, hardworking, and a man of deep faith.”
 
“It is an incredible honor to have been entrusted by Governor Sanders with the role of Secretary of State.  I am deeply thankful for her leadership and for the opportunity to serve Arkansans in this position.  The people of Arkansas deserve a Secretary of State who will fight for them and for our shared values day in and day out, and I will fulfill that sacred responsibility.  In partnership with the Governor, we will work to ensure Arkansas is the greatest state in the nation through election security, public safety, and efficient service to Arkansans,” said Cole Jester. 
 
The Governor also announced two appointments to the Supreme Court: Supreme Court Justice Cody Hiland and Arkansas Solicitor General Nicholas Bronni. Justice Hiland is replacing Justice Courtney Hudson Goodson and Solicitor General Bronni is replacing Justice Karen Baker. Jester, Hiland, and Bronni will all take office January 1, 2025.
 
“Cody’s first 18 months on the Supreme Court have shown everyone what we already knew: he’s sharp, he’s honest, and above all, he’s dedicated to the people of Arkansas and our Constitution. Nick has defended our state and laws as Arkansas’ Solicitor General, and I know he will do an excellent job interpreting them on the bench,” said Governor Sanders. “Together, these two appointees cement our conservative Supreme Court majority and will ensure laws are interpreted as written, calling balls and strikes and leaving the legislating to the legislators.”
 
“I am grateful for the faith that Governor Sanders has placed in me to continue serving the people of this state as an Arkansas Supreme Court Justice,” said Supreme Court Justice Cody Hiland.
 
“I’m humbled and honored by the trust that Governor Sanders has placed in me by appointing me to the Arkansas Supreme Court,” said Arkansas Solicitor General Nicholas Bronni. “It has been my privilege to serve as Arkansas’s Solicitor General, and in that role, every time I stepped into a courtroom, I never forgot who I represented or that it was an honor to represent the people of the Natural State.  And I thank Governor Sanders for the opportunity to serve the people of Arkansas in this new role. “

Cole Jester Bio:

For the previous two years, Cole has served as the Deputy Chief Legal Counsel for Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders. There, he was instrumental in crafting legislation to stop the Chinese Communist Party from buying Arkansas farmland. He also served as a litigation advisor to the Governor in her work taking on Big Tech and the Biden EPA. 

Before joining the Governor’s Office, Cole was an Appellate Clerk for Chief Judge Lavenski Smith of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. While attending the University of Virginia School of Law, Cole clerked for the firm of Friday, Eldridge, & Clark, worked for the United States Air Force, and argued criminal cases in Virginia district court. Cole also served as the Managing Editor of The Journal of Law and Politics, founded in 1983 by Justice Antonin Scalia. 

Cole is a Benton, Arkansas native who graduated valedictorian of Benton High School and summa *** laude from Ouachita Baptist University. He is a proud husband to his wife Elizabeth and father to his new daughter, Charlotte.

Justice Cody Hiland Bio:

Cody was appointed to serve on the Arkansas Supreme Court by Governor Sarah Sanders in July of 2023. In 2022 he served as advisor to the Sarah Sanders campaign for Arkansas Governor.

He served as General Counsel for the Arkansas Department of Public Safety. He was nominated in June of 2017 by President Donald Trump and unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate in October of 2017 to serve as United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas.
He received the “Chairman’s Award” in 2020 from the Arkansas State Police Foundation for his work as United States Attorney and increased the case load in the office by 82% in his first year with a focus on violent crime.

Cody was elected as the first Republican Prosecuting Attorney for the 20th Judicial District in 2010 and re-elected in 2014 without opposition. He received the “Champion of Justice” award from the Arkansas Prosecuting Attorney’s Association in 2017. He served as a Legislative Aide to former Governor Mike Huckabee. Hiland and his wife Jana have four children, Claire, Caity, John Reagan, Ethan, and one grandson, Finn. They are members at Immanuel Baptist Church in Little Rock.

Solicitor General Nicholas Bronni Bio:

Nicholas Bronni has served as the Solicitor General of Arkansas since July 2018. In that role, he has successfully argued two cases in the United States Supreme Court: Delaware v. Pennsylvania, 143 S.Ct. 696 (2023), an original jurisdiction case concerning unclaimed property; and Rutledge v. PCMA, 141 S.Ct. 474 (2020), an ERISA preemption case. He has also successfully argued numerous cases before federal and state appellate courts, including Arkansas Times v. Waldrip, 37 F.4th 1386 (8th Cir. 2022) (en banc), which upheld Arkansas’s law barring state contractors from boycotting Israel; and Arkansas State Conf. NAACP v. Arkansas Bd. of Apportionment, 86 F.4th 1204 (8th Cir. 2023), a landmark case holding that Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act is not privately enforceable.
 
Mr. Bronni received his law degree with magna *** laude honors from the University of Michigan Law School. At Michigan, he was also an editor of the Michigan Law Review and was elected to the Order of the Coif. He received his undergraduate degree, summa *** laude, from the Elliott School of International Affairs at the George Washington University.

Prior to returning home to Arkansas, Mr. Bronni was a Senior Litigation Counsel with the Appellate Litigation Group at the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. He was also an associate with Gibson Dunn and Crutcher LLP in Washington, DC. Mr. Bronni clerked for the Honorable Jay S. Bybee of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
 
Nick is originally from Camden. He and his wife, Sarah, live in Little Rock with their two kids, Frederick and Margaret.