Scott Keller had already clerked at the U.S. Supreme Court and was a Bristow Fellow at the U.S. Department of Justice when he took on his new role this year: chief counsel for Senator Ted Cruz.

Keller’s first legal job in the legislative branch has put him in the middle of a political, legislative and media whirlwind. Cruz, the Texas Republican and member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has elbowed his way into the national spotlight — and political controversy — in less than a year.