Which actress played Republican lawyer Ainsley Hayes?

Emily Procter played Republican lawyer Ainsley Hayes on The West Wing. Hayes joined the White House counsel’s office during the Bartlet administration, bringing a sharp Republican perspective into a largely Democratic workplace.

Ainsley first appears in the second season, when she debates Sam Seaborn on television and impresses President Bartlet with her legal ability and political independence. Although she is hired by a Democratic president, the character is not rewritten as a Democrat; her conservative convictions remain an important part of her identity.

Procter’s West Wing role came before her best-known long-running part as Calleigh Duquesne on CSI: Miami. Ainsley is sometimes confused with Amy Gardner, another prominent female political character, but Amy was played by Mary-Louise Parker and worked primarily as a women’s-rights advocate and Democratic strategist. Procter returned as Ainsley for a later appearance in the series’ seventh season.