Idaho attorney general-elect Raúl Labrador appoints Trump ally to future staff
Idaho Attorney General-elect Raúl Labrador on Thursday announced two key appointments to his upcoming administration.
Labrador, a Republican, handily won in this month’s general election and will take office in January. David Dewhirst, the former solicitor general of Montana, will join Labrador’s staff as chief deputy attorney general. Theo Wold, a former U.S. Department of Justice attorney and deputy assistant for domestic policy for President Donald Trump, will be Idaho’s new solicitor general.
“I’m committed to modernizing and improving the office, and these dedicated and proven public servants will help me accomplish that goal,” Labrador said in a news release. “It is an honor to have them join me in the fight to protect Idahoans’ fundamental freedoms.”
Labrador — an immigration lawyer, former congressman and one-time chairman of the Idaho GOP — defeated Democratic Boise attorney Tom Arkoosh in the Nov. 8 general election for attorney general. Earlier, Labrador won the Republican primary over 20-year incumbent Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden, who sought a sixth term.
On the campaign trail, Labrador promised to sue the federal government when it infringes on Idahoans’ rights. As Montana solicitor general, Dewhirst worked “against the Biden administration’s policies to shutter the Keystone XL pipeline and impose federal vaccine mandates,” a news release from Labrador noted.
Dewhirst previously served as principal deputy general counsel for the U.S. Department of Commerce. He gave legal advice to the commerce secretary, managed the department’s litigation portfolio, defended department officials in congressional investigations and oversaw regulatory reform and environment review permitting, according to the news release.
As Montana solicitor general, Dewhirst led a team of attorneys defending laws passed by the state Legislature that were later challenged in court, Helena’s KTVH recently reported.
Dewhirst also has worked as an attorney for the Freedom Foundation, a conservative, anti-union think tank, founded in Washington. The group is loosely associated with the Idaho Freedom Foundation, according to Idaho Freedom Foundation Vice President Dustin Hurst.
Dewhirst earned his law degree from George Washington University, where he served as symposium editor for the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy and president of the Federalist Society.
What does solicitor general do?
Wold will be the first Idaho solicitor general in some time. Many other states, such as Texas and Louisiana, have solicitors general, said Brent Littlefield, Labrador’s campaign spokesman.
“In most cases, that role involves being the chief point person on litigation, especially as it comes to issues where the federal government may be overreaching states’ rights, along with other high-profile cases,” Littlefield told the Idaho Statesman by phone.
Labrador earned an endorsement from former Idaho Attorney General David Leroy, in part because Labrador promised to appoint a solicitor general. Leroy said he created the post, which was later left vacant by subsequent attorneys general.
The position was meant for a “top appellate lawyer to present the toughest and highest profile cases,” Leroy said in an August news release.
“Somewhere along the intervening years, the title of solicitor general, that organizational commitment and emphasis was disbanded,” Leroy said in the release.
Within the Trump administration, Wold worked directly with the president and other leaders to implement federal policy, Labrador’s news release said. He previously was a staff attorney for U.S. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah.
He’s also a visiting fellow with the Claremont Institute’s Center for the American Way of Life, a nonprofit that seeks to liberate “America’s mind and institutions from woke rule.” Boise State University Professor Scott Yenor, who last year attracted attention for bemoaning career-focused women, also a fellow with the group.
Wold holds a law degree from the University of Notre Dame and helped craft a controversial election bill on voter identification that was sponsored by Republican Rep. Dorothy Moon, R-Stanley. Wold served as a clerk at the U.S. District Court for Puerto Rico.
Both Wold and Dewhirst served as law clerks in the U.S. Court of Appeals.
They are scheduled to assume their new roles Jan. 2.
This story was originally published November 17, 2022 at 3:33 PM.
CORRECTION: This story has been updated to remove a reference to tweets shared by Theo Wold’s account that referred to alleged ballot harvesting by Democrats. The tweets were not made by Wold. A spokesman for Labrador told the Statesman that Wold does not deny the results of the 2020 election.
