Photo: Eric Gay /Associated Press Photo: Judge Don Willett Photo: Courtesy Photo

AUSTIN — President Donald Trump on Thursday picked two conservatives from Texas with compelling personal stories to serve on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals — including a state Supreme Court justice who zinged him on Twitter during the campaign for the White House.

Texas Supreme Court Justice Don R. Willett — a prolific Twitter user whose wit has earned him more than 96,000 followers and the title of Texas’ “Tweeter Laureate” — gently mocked Trump in some tweets during the presidential campaign.

Among them was a haiku suggesting that the thought of Trump’s potential picks for the U.S. Supreme Court would make one weep.

But Willett, raised by a widowed mother who waitressed at a truck stop to support the family, nevertheless was cited by then-candidate Trump as a potential choice for the U.S. Supreme Court.

And when Trump nominated Neil Gorsuch to the nation’s top court, Willett tweeted that Gorsuch was a “superb jurist.”

Trump’s other pick, Dallas appellate lawyer James C. Ho, is a naturalized citizen who moved from Taiwan to the U.S. with his family when he was young. A former Texas solicitor general, Ho has argued cases before state and federal courts.

“Both are very experienced and have the kind of credentials and qualifications you’d want for the appellate bench,” said law professor Carl Tobias of the University of Richmond.

Willett and Ho, whose selection first was reported by the San Antonio Express-News, were among four people Trump said he was nominating to the appellate court.

The others, from Louisiana, are lawyer Stuart Kyle Duncan, who served as general counsel of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, solicitor general and appellate chief of the Louisiana Department of Justice and assistant solicitor general in the Texas attorney general’s office; and Chief Judge Kurt D. Engelhardt of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.

Subject to U.S. Senate confirmation, the four are being named to a busy court that has 17 authorized active judicial slots. Three of those are vacant, and a fourth judge has announced his retirement.

The appellate court handles a slew of high-profile cases, dealing with a range of issues such as challenges to Texas laws regarding the disposal of fetal remains, requirements for voter identification and a ban on sanctuary cities; death penalty matters; and the NFL’s effort to reinstate a six-game suspension for Dallas Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott over domestic violence allegations.

Former President Barack Obama didn’t attempt to fill a couple of long-standing vacancies on the appellate court “because he couldn’t get any kind of agreement with the Texas senators,” said Tobias, the law professor.

“It means all the other judges have to pick up the slack. It slows things down,” Tobias said of such vacancies.

Trump’s nominations, however, won’t guarantee quick relief. Tobias said confirmation could take until next spring, given that other nominations already are awaiting consideration.

Texas’ senators, both Republicans, had high praise for the nominees from their state.

Sen. Ted Cruz said he is “thrilled” that Trump chose the two, saying both are “close friends who I’ve known for decades” and “judicial stars.” He said he hoped they would be confirmed quickly.

“Both are principled, smart and deeply devoted to the Constitution,” Cruz said. “The one commitment I asked from each of them upon informing them of their nomination was a promise that they would always, always, always be faithful to the law and the Constitution.”

Sen John Cornyn said the two are “exceptional legal minds who will faithfully interpret the law, not rewrite it. … I was proud to join Sen. Cruz in recommending both candidates, and I look forward to building support among my colleagues for their nominations.”

Gov. Greg Abbott, noting that he had worked with both men when he was attorney general, called them “outstanding choices.”

Willett is a former deputy attorney general whose previous posts included serving as special assistant in the White House to President George W. Bush. He initially was appointed to the Texas Supreme Court by then-Gov. Rick Perry and has since been elected twice.

Ho, a former law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, has been chief counsel to Cornyn on the Senate Judiciary Committee. He was solicitor general in the attorney general’s office under Abbott.

Abbott said he “can attest to their brilliance as lawyers and their unwavering commitment to the rule of law. I look forward to their swift approval by the U.S. Senate and to their service on the 5th Circuit, where I know they will uphold the Constitution.”

Leonard Leo, adviser to Trump on judges, said the selections of Willett and Duncan in particular show Trump’s “commitment to picking judges who have a record of excellence and a commitment to a judicial role that is impartial rather than committed to a particular personal or legal agenda.”

But there also was criticism, with Willett’s record on the bench leaving him open to shots.

“The system is rigged when big corporations have an edge over the little guy. Once again, Donald Trump selects individuals for the judiciary who have the best interest of corporations at heart, rather than working Texans,” said Manny Garcia, deputy executive director of the Texas Democratic Party.

Ho’s law firm profile cites defeating “two multibillion-dollar class actions” among his accomplishments.

Solicitor General Scott Keller said Ho “has been one of the pre-eminent litigators in Texas for a number of years, and I’m confident he will bring that dedication to his profession and to his country to his position as a jurist on the 5th Circuit.”

Majority or concurring opinions by Willett in several Texas Supreme Court cases — including one that served to limit damages in a sexual harassment case, another that ruled against a requirement for 750 hours of cosmetology training for eyebrow threaders and a third that critics said foreclosed key legal remedies for injured workers — were targeted by Ware Wendell, executive director of Texas Watch, which monitors the civil justice system.

“Don Willett has proven himself to be an activist judge whose radical view of the world privileges profit over public safety,” Wendell said. “His writing demonstrates a desire to shred protections under a misinterpretation of ‘liberty’ that is distorted beyond all recognition. Freedom, of course, shouldn’t mean you are free to hurt other people. But in Justice Willett’s world, commercial interests are given more free rein to do what they want, to whomever they want, no matter the consequences in the real world for you and me.”

Deputy First Assistant Attorney General Brantley Starr, however, said Willett has demonstrated his ability to forge consensus on difficult cases.

Starr cited the high-profile school finance case, in which Willett drew no dissents in a ruling that pointed out problems in the funding system but left the fix to lawmakers. He also pointed to a case in which Willett wrote for the court that the law didn’t allow recovery of emotion-based damages when a dog was wrongly euthanized, while acknowledging the grief of the family involved.

The rulings “showed his ability to build consensus, and consensus is a key factor for a judge on an appellate court,” Starr said. “You are never really acting alone.”

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