The 11th Solicitor General newly appointed in Ohio is a Hillsdale College alumnus, Elliot Gaiser ’12.
Gaiser, appointed by Attorney General Dave Yost, is set to begin his appointment on Nov. 20.
“Elliot is a great son of Ohio,” said John J. Miller, director of the Dow Journalism Program at Hillsdale College. “He always wanted to go back to Ohio and be in that community as a leader. And he talked about politics and serving in high public office, and now he’s back and doing that.”
David Azerrad, an assistant professor and research fellow at Hillsdale College’s Van Andel Graduate School of Statesmanship, mentored Gaiser during his internship with the Heritage Foundation in 2013.
“The three things that stand out about Elliot is that he has a sharp, clear mind,” Azerrad said. “Second is he’s really a young man of impeccable character. And third, he’s the kind of conservative who’s willing to do the right thing and fight for the right issues, even if they’re unpopular with the New York Times and the elites.”
Born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, Gaiser said his experience as a speech and debate student in high school began his development of valuable skills for becoming a lawyer.
“It helped me learn how to research and write because you’re writing arguments in advance,” Gaiser said. “You’re reading a lot of material that’s pretty complicated for high schoolers, not just news articles, but research reports.”
Gaiser said the speech studies program inspired him to become a double major in political economy and rhetoric and public address.
During his time at Hillsdale, he also wrote and edited for The Collegian, which he said helped him progress in the arts of storytelling and persuasion.
“When you write a brief as a lawyer, you’re making an argument, but you’re also telling a story,” he said. “There’s a narrative component to all persuasion. Human beings are narrative creatures; we tell ourselves stories, and we interpret the world through not just logic, but also narrative. And so learning the structure of a good narrative rooted in the facts was essential.”
Gaiser, who was opinions editor for The Collegian during the 2011 to 2012 school year, said he loved the conversations the page started around campus.
“I really wanted the opinions page to be a place where students on campus could talk to each other about issues out in the world and also on campus,” Gaiser said. “My favorite thing was going to Saga at noon on Thursday after The Collegian came out and overhearing students in the line debating the subjects that had been printed in the opinions page.”
After graduation, Gaiser attended law school at University of Chicago.
Gaiser clerked for Judge Edith H. Jones on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals; served as an appellate attorney for Gibson, Dunn, & Crutcher LLP; a clerk for Judge Neomi Rao on the D.C. Circuit; and an appellate attorney at Boyden Gray PLLC. Gaiser also served as a U.S. Supreme Court clerk for Associate Justice Samuel Alito and is currently an associate at Jones Day’s Columbus Office.
Each of these positions have, according to Gaiser, provided him with a range of judiciary experience such as building a reputation in D.C., working with federal appeals for Judge Jones, and handling administrative law for Judge Rao.
As Ben Flowers, current solicitor general of Ohio, prepared to retire, Gaiser decided to interview for the position.
“I interviewed with the Attorney General and others in his office. When the Attorney General offered me the job, I was just so excited about it, I could barely contain myself,” Gaiser said. “There’s really nothing that sounds more attractive and invigorating than the awesome responsibility of being able to stand up in court and say, ‘This is Elliot Gaiser for the state of Ohio.’”
Gaiser said since the American legal system requires due process, people have a right to a notice of claims against them and a right to be heard. Dissatisfied parties have a right to appeal to the intermediary Court of Appeals.
“Those opportunities extend not just to the initial hearing, which is at the trial level,” Gaiser said. “It also includes intermediate appellate review, and usually discretionary review by the Supreme Court of Ohio or the Supreme Court of the United States. And so appeals begin once the trial concludes.”
As the solicitor general, Gaiser said he will be responsible for representing the state when it has an appeal.
Azerrad is hopeful that as solicitor general, Gaiser will be a strong public defender.
“If he’s going to genuinely represent the interests of Ohioans,” Azerrad said, “he will run up against the establishment, against the Democratic establishment, the Republican establishment, the media, the intellectual establishment. And I trust that Elliot will have the courage to defend the interests of Ohioans.”
As Gaiser prepares to begin his new appointment, he stands firm in the role of a defender of justice.
“I think a lot about the verse in the Book of Amos, the biblical prophet, which was paraphrased and quoted by Martin Luther King Jr., ‘Let justice roll down like a mighty flood,’” Gaiser said. “I think that lawyers at their best, when they live up to their ethical standards and have the highest character and integrity, assist in the deliverance of justice. They help justice roll down.”
