Attorney General Ken Paxton announced this week that he has appointed Aaron Nielson as the state’s new solicitor general.
Nielsen is a Brigham Young University law professor specializing in administrative law, antitrust, civil procedure, and federal courts, according to a press release from the attorney general’s office.
He recently served as the chair of the Administration and Management Committee of the Administrative Conference of the United States and has also served on the American Bar Association’s administrative law and regulatory practice section.
Nielson is a visiting fellow at the Antonin Scalia Law School’s C. Boyden Gray Center for the Study of the Administrative State.
Nielsen is planning to take a one-year leave of absence from BYU while serving and is replacing former Solicitor General Judd Stone, who resigned from his role in October to pursue opportunities in private practice.
“It is my great honor to serve the state of Texas as Solicitor General. I look forward to working alongside the team Attorney General Paxton has assembled and to leading and learning from the world-class lawyers in the Solicitor General Division that represent Texas so well in our nation’s appellate courts,” said Nielson in the news release.
Paxton expressed his excitement to have Nielson fill the position and lead the team.
“I am delighted to welcome Aaron as Solicitor General. In this position, he will lead the critical appellate work for some of our most significant, far-reaching cases,” Paxton said.
“His talent and expertise are virtually unmatched, earning him national renown in the legal community. He will be a tremendous asset to our agency and to our state’s appellate leadership on the major legal questions of our era.”
Nielson has experience working with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, and he has represented multiple cases in front of the court that encompasses Texas.
One such case was Collins v. Yellen, in which Nielson was chosen by the U.S. Supreme Court to brief and argue the case in front of the Fifth Circuit Court, per the news release from the OAG.
