Judd Stone II, a former clerk to the conservative Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, was named solicitor general of Texas earlier this year. On Monday, he will take on his most high-profile challenge to date: arguing before the Supreme Court on behalf of the state in two challenges to its new anti-abortion law.

Mr. Stone, who took his post in February, joined the state solicitor general’s office in 2020. He was appointed by Ken Paxton, the state attorney general. His predecessor, Kyle Hawkins, called Mr. Stone’s appellate advocacy skills “unmatched.” He oversees an office of attorneys who supervise and approve all appellate litigation for the state.

Before joining the office of the solicitor general, Mr. Stone was chief counsel for Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, himself a former Texas solicitor general.

Mr. Stone practiced law in Washington, D.C., at the Supreme Court and Appellate Practice Group for Morgan, Lewis, and Bockius, and the Kellogg, Hansen, Todd, Figel, and Frederick law firm. He was also an Olin-Searle-Smith fellow at Harvard Law School.

Before his career in private practice, Mr. Stone clerked for Mr. Scalia, for Judge Edith Jones on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, and for Justice Daniel Winfree on the Alaska Supreme Court. He graduated from the University of Texas at Dallas and from Northwestern University Law School.

Mr. Hawkins, the previous solicitor general, announced his resignation in January. Notably, he had declined to join Mr. Paxton’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.