Summerhays earned his Bachelor of Arts, with high honors, from the University of Texas at Austin, where he was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa, and his Juris Doctor from the University of Texas School of Law, where he graduated with high honors and was inducted into the Order of the Coif.

He was a partner in the Dallas office of Weil, Gotshal & Manges before becoming a bankruptcy judge.

[1] On January 23, 2018, President Donald Trump announced his intent to nominate Summerhays to an undetermined seat on the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana.

He was nominated to the seat vacated by Judge Rebecca F. Doherty, who assumed senior status on June 5, 2017.

[3] On April 11, 2018, a hearing on his nomination was held before the Senate Judiciary Committee.