Grabbing attention yesterday was President Trump’s nomination of Don Willett to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. Willett is a justice of the Texas supreme court, and famous as a tweeter: an imaginative and highly enjoyable tweeter. His elevation to the circuit court is very good news.
But I would like to concentrate on another nomination. A friend of mine texted me yesterday, “Ho, Ho, Ho — Christmas has come early.” What she meant was that Trump had nominated our friend James C. Ho to that same Fifth Circuit.
He is a wonderful guy and a wonderful lawyer, Jim Ho. He describes himself as “Taiwanese by birth and Texan by marriage.” He went to Stanford and Chicago. He clerked for Justice Thomas. He was solicitor general of Texas. He is a close friend of his predecessor in that job, Ted Cruz. Today, Jim is a partner at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in Dallas.
His wife, Allyson, is equally accomplished and, he would agree, more wonderful. She is a partner at Morgan Lewis. She went to Duke, Rice, and Chicago. (There is a Ph.D. in English in there.) She clerked for Justice O’Connor. Allyson and Jim have twins (a boy and a girl).
The many fans of this family could not be more pleased about Jim’s nomination. We expect him to be a force for the rule of law. And I salute President Trump for this and other sterling nominations.