Lee Rudofsky, a Walmart in-house counsel and former solicitor general of Arkansas

President Donald Trump has nominated Walmart Inc. in-house counsel Lee Rudofsky, a former solicitor general of Arkansas, to serve as a federal judge in the U.S. District Court in Little Rock, Arkansas.

By all accounts, Rudofsky, Walmart's senior director for global anti-corruption compliance, is someone who defends against “encroaching” government, who seeks to keep violent criminals off the streets and who worries that today's politics are far too volatile. Rudofsky declined to comment and referred questions to the Department of Justice.

Jay Jorgensen, his former boss at Walmart, called Rudofsky “a brilliant lawyer.” Jorgensen was global chief ethics and compliance officer at Walmart before joining South Korea's Coupang as general counsel in March.

He said Rudofsky's “experience working in the judiciary and at a global law firm have made him one of the sharpest minds I've seen. He will be an outstanding federal judge.”

Walmart said in a statement, “We congratulate Lee on his nomination and are confident he will distinguish himself as a committed and impartial judge.”

In a revealing essay that ran in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette last October, when Rudofsky was leaving state government and rejoining Walmart, he talked about how much he and his wife have fallen in love with the state.

He wrote, “I am talking about a place where I can still leave my front door open and let my little kids play in the yard by themselves … about people who genuinely care for and help each other—not because the government makes them do it but because it is the right thing to do … about good folk who offer use of their Christian church for services because my Jewish temple flooded beyond the point of repair.”

He also wrote of using his legal skills “to advance the rule of law, without which our legal system cannot survive and our judiciary would turn into nothing more than an aristocratic super-legislature imposing its will on us all; to defend our express constitutional liberties from encroachment by government, so we may each primarily live our lives and raise our families according to our own dictates and conscience; and to keep violent criminals off the streets so that our children may grow up in a safe and wholesome environment.”

Rudofsky went on to write that “politics and governing is a rough and volatile undertaking … far too rough and volatile these days.”

He called it a precious and extraordinary thing to be an Arkansan. “Its uniqueness is worth preserving, even when politics is pulling everyone and everything apart at the seams,” he concluded.

Rudofsky knows about politics. He served as deputy general counsel to the Mitt Romney Republican campaign for president in 2012 and as deputy general counsel to Republican Steve Poizner's campaign for governor of California in 2010.

He served as a senior associate at Kirkland & Ellis in Washington, D.C., for six years until he joined Walmart as an assistant general counsel in 2014. A year later Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge named him as state solicitor general. He worked to oppose clean air laws, strip Planned Parenthood of Medicaid funding, and guided litigation to allow lethal injection executions, among other things.

Rutledge, who has been a frequent defender of Trump on various TV shows, said in a statement, “When I hired Lee away from Walmart in 2015, I knew that he had the experience and legal acumen to be the lead strategist on crucial litigation for my administration as the first official solicitor general of the Attorney General's Office. I am confident that as a jurist Lee will be fair, impartial and will adhere to the rule of law.”

Rudofsky rejoined Walmart a year ago. For the past two years he also has taught law part-time at the University of Arkansas School of Law in Fayetteville. Earlier in his career he served several judicial clerkships, including for Judge Andrew Kleinfeld of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Fairbanks, Alaska.

Rudofsky is a graduate of Cornell University and received his law degree from Harvard Law School.

Trump also nominated Austin Huffaker, a shareholder at Alabama law firm Rushton, Stakely, Johnston & Garrett, to serve as a judge on the U.S. District Court in Montgomery, Alabama. His practice focuses on complex commercial, products and lender liability and professional malpractice litigation.

Thomas “Tommy” Keene, president of the law firm, said of Huffaker, “He's a straight arrow. Some might classify him as a quiet type person. He gets along well with everybody he works with, and his work ethic is tremendous.”

Keene called Huffaker “very intelligent, patient and understanding, with a great judicial demeanor.” Huffaker did not return messages seeking comment.

Huffaker served as a commissioner on the Alabama Securities Commission and as a member of the Alabama Civil Jury Charge Committee.

He earned his undergraduate degree at Vanderbilt University and received his law degree magna cum laude from the University of Alabama.