James C. Ho

James Chiun-Yue Ho (born February 27, 1973) is a Taiwanese-born American attorney and jurist. He was nominated to serve as a U.S. circuit judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit by President Donald Trump, and took office in 2018. Ho formerly served as Solicitor General of Texas from 2008 to 2010.

James Ho
何俊宇
Ho in 2017
Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
Assumed office
January 4, 2018
Appointed byDonald Trump
Preceded byCarolyn Dineen King
4th Solicitor General of Texas
In office
May 12, 2008 – December 9, 2010
Attorney GeneralGreg Abbott
Preceded byTed Cruz
Succeeded byJonathan F. Mitchell
Personal details
Born
James Chiun-Yue Ho

(1973-02-27) February 27, 1973
Taipei, Taiwan
EducationStanford University (BA)
University of Chicago (JD)
Chinese name
Chinese何俊宇
Hanyu PinyinHé Jùnyǔ
Wade–GilesHo2 Chün4-yü3
IPA[xɤ̌ tɕŷn.ỳ]

Early life and education

Ho was born in 1973 in Taipei, Taiwan.[1] His family immigrated to the United States when he was a small child, and he grew up in San Marino, California.[2]

After graduating from the Polytechnic School in Pasadena, Ho studied public policy at Stanford University, graduating in 1995 with a Bachelor of Arts with honors. After spending one year at California State University, Sacramento, as a California Senate Fellow, Ho attended the University of Chicago Law School, where he was an editor of the University of Chicago Law Review. He graduated in 1999 with a Juris Doctor degree with high honors and membership in the Order of the Coif.[2][3][4]

Career

After graduating from law school, Ho was a law clerk to Judge Jerry Edwin Smith of the Fifth Circuit from 1999 to 2000.[1] He was in private practice in Washington, D.C., at the law firm Gibson Dunn from 2001 to 2002.[1]

Ho then joined the U.S. Department of Justice, first in the Civil Rights Division in 2001 and then in the Office of Legal Counsel from 2001–2003.[1] He was Chief Counsel to subcommittees of the Senate Judiciary Committee from 2003 to 2005 under Republican Senator John Cornyn.[5][1] He was then a law clerk to Justice Clarence Thomas from 2005 to 2006.[1]

Ho was in private practice in Gibson Dunn's Dallas office from 2006 to 2008 and 2010 to 2017.[1] From 2008 to 2010, he was the Solicitor General of Texas in the Office of the Attorney General of Texas,[1] replacing Ted Cruz in that position.[5] As Texas solicitor general, Ho led the state's lawsuits against the Obama administration.[5]

Ho has worked as a volunteer attorney with the First Liberty Institute, a religious legal advocacy organization.[6][7] He has held multiple positions as a member of the Federalist Society since 1996.[4]

In a 2006 law review article published in The Green Bag, Ho wrote that "Birthright citizenship is guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment. That birthright is protected no less for children of undocumented persons than for descendants of Mayflower passengers."[8][9] In a 2011 op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal, Ho wrote, "Opponents of illegal immigration cannot claim to champion the rule of law and then, in the same breath, propose policies that violate our Constitution."[9][10]

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit

On September 28, 2017, President Donald Trump announced his intent to nominate Ho as a Circuit Judge to an undetermined seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.[11] Cruz had promoted Ho as a candidate for a vacancy on the court.[11] On October 16, 2017, Trump sent Ho's nomination to the Senate. He was nominated to the seat vacated by Judge Carolyn Dineen King, who assumed senior status on December 31, 2013.[12] On November 15, 2017, a hearing on his nomination was held before the Senate Judiciary Committee.[13] On December 7, 2017, his nomination was reported out of committee by an 11–9 vote.[14] On December 13, 2017, the United States Senate invoked cloture on his nomination by a 53–44 vote.[15] On December 14, 2017, Ho's nomination was confirmed by a 53–43 vote.[16] He received his judicial commission on January 4, 2018.[1] He was sworn in by Justice Clarence Thomas at the private library of Texan real estate billionaire and Republican donor Harlan Crow.[17]

In July 2018, Carrie Johnson of NPR wrote that "Ho has shaken up the staid world of appellate law by deploying aggressive rhetoric in cases involving guns, abortion rights and campaign finance regulations." Johnson wrote that "critics say Ho is writing op-ed columns, not legal opinions ... Friends and former colleagues said he's an intellectual engaging with ideas." In a judicial opinion, Ho said the current "government ... would be unrecognizable to our Founders"; in another he wrote of the First Amendment "right[s] of ... bishops to express their profound objection to the moral tragedy of abortion".[5]

On September 9, 2020, Trump included Ho on a list of potential nominees to the Supreme Court.[18] Trump nominated Amy Coney Barrett, who was confirmed.

On September 29, 2022, Ho delivered a speech at a Federalist Society conference in Kentucky and said he would no longer hire law clerks from Yale Law School, which he said was plagued by "cancel culture" and students disrupting conservative speakers. Ho said Yale "not only tolerates the cancellation of views — it actively practices it.", and he urged other judges to likewise boycott the school.[19][20] U.S. Circuit Judge Elizabeth L. Branch of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit confirmed her participation in the Yale boycott in a statement to National Review. Branch told the National Review that Ho raised "legitimate concerns about the lack of free speech on law school campuses, Yale in particular," and that she would not consider students from Yale for clerkships in the future.[21]

Notable opinions
  • On April 18, 2018, in his first written opinion as a Fifth Circuit judge, Ho dissented from a denial of a rehearing en banc in a case regarding a limit on campaign contributions. The Fifth Circuit three-judge panel upheld the constitutionality of a City of Austin ordinance setting an individual campaign contribution limit of $350 per election for candidates for mayor and city council, rejecting the plaintiff's claim that the limit violated the First Amendment. In his dissent, Ho argued the court "should have granted rehearing en banc and held that the Austin contribution limit violates the First Amendment" and asserted that "if there is too much money in politics, it's because there's too much government."[22][23][24]
  • Ho described abortion as a "moral tragedy" in one of his rulings which upheld a Texan law that required abortion facilities to bury or cremate fetal remains.[25]
  • In 2019, Ho authored a concurring opinion in the Mississippi abortion case Jackson Women's Health Organization v. Dobbs, 945 F.3d 265 (2019), criticizing the lower court for failing to respect the State's arguments in support of the Mississippi Gestational Age Act. This case later went to the Supreme Court and was the occasion for Justice Alito's 2022 opinion that declared Roe v. Wade and "Casey" overruled.
  • In 2020, Ho was a member of a panel that stayed a preliminary injunction entered by U.S. District Judge Fred Biery that expanded the right to use a mail-in ballot to all Texas voters during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic (allowing broader use of mail-in voting than under the Texas Election Code, which entitled only Texas voters over age 65 to vote absentee without an excuse). Ho wrote a separate concurring opinion favoring the state officials.[26][27][28][29][30]
  • In 2020, Ho wrote a concurring opinion in another voting rights case, involving a challenge to Texas Governor Greg Abbott's order restricting the number of drop-off locations for mail-in ballot to one per county. Abbott's order closed dozens of drop-off locations in populous, heavily Democratic urban areas in Texas. The order was challenged by civil rights groups, and the district court held that the order violated the constitutional right to vote. Ho joined a Fifth Circuit order that stayed the district court's ruling and held that the governor's order did not infringe the right to vote. In a concurring opinion, Ho wrote that Texas election law should not be "rewritten" by "executive fiat" or "judicial fiat."[31][32][33]
  • On April 9, 2021, Ho dissented when the 5th Circuit refused to hear en banc on a case regarding the Certification Rule used to help implement the Affordable Care Act. Ho and four other judges would have struck down the Certification Rule.[34]
  • On February 22, 2023, Ho wrote a sharply worded dissent from denial of rehearing after the 5th circuit granted qualified immunity to officials who jailed their critics. Ho wrote that the 5th Circuit left Americans "vulnerable to public officials who choose to weaponize criminal statutes against citizens whose political views they disfavor."[35][36]
  • In August 2023, a dissenting opinion by Ho was published in which he argued that Catholic medical providers had legal standing to sue over abortion pill mifepristone because: "Doctors delight in working with their unborn patients—and experience an aesthetic injury when they are aborted"; Ho cited past court cases on the environment where it was ruled that people experienced aesthetic injuries when animals or plants were threatened.[37][38][39]

Personal life

Ho is married to Allyson N. Ho, a partner in the Dallas office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher and co-chair of the firm's appellate practice group. They have twin children, a daughter and son.[40]

See also

References
  1. James C. Ho at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center.
  2. Council, John (December 14, 2017). "Senate Confirms Former Texas Solicitor General James Ho to Fifth Circuit". Texas Lawyer. New York City. Retrieved December 14, 2017.
  3. Mathews |, Joe (October 27, 2020). "Two Would-Be Supreme Court Justices and Me". Zócalo Public Square. Retrieved February 18, 2022.
  4. "Questionnaire for Judicial Nominees" (PDF). judiciary.senate.gov. Retrieved June 30, 2018.
  5. Johnson, Carrie (July 26, 2018). "Legal Opinions Or Political Commentary? A New Judge Exemplifies The Trump Era". NPR. Retrieved October 18, 2018.
  6. "First Liberty Institute Congratulates Its Former Volunteer Attorney James C. Ho on His Judicial Confirmation" (Press release). December 14, 2017. Retrieved December 16, 2017.
  7. Marcus, Ilana; Eaton, Joshua; Timms, Ed (March 20, 2020). "Federal judges: From political players to lifetime appointments". Roll Call. Retrieved May 24, 2020.
  8. Ho, James Chiun-Yue (2006). "Defining "American": Birthright Citizenship and the Original Understanding of the 14th Amendment" (PDF). The Green Bag. 9 (4): 376. ISSN 1095-5216. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 30, 2010. Retrieved March 27, 2012.
  9. Paul, Deanna (October 30, 2018). "Trump wants to end birthright citizenship. A judge he appointed says he can't". Washington Post. Archived from the original on November 16, 2018. Retrieved December 20, 2018.
  10. Ho, James (January 5, 2011). "Birthright Citizenship and the 14th Amendment". Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on May 9, 2017. Retrieved December 20, 2018.
  11. Patrick Svitek & Emma Platoff, Trump taps two Texans — Willett and Ho — for judicial posts, Texas Tribune (September 28, 2017).
  12. PN1108 — James C. Ho — The Judiciary, 115th Congress (2017-2018), Congress.gov.
  13. "Nominations | United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary". www.judiciary.senate.gov. November 15, 2017.
  14. "Results of Executive Business Meeting – December 7, 2017" (PDF). Senate Judiciary Committee.
  15. "On the Cloture Motion (Motion to Invoke Cloture: James C. Ho to be U.S. Circuit Judge for the Fifth Circuit)". United States Senate. December 13, 2017.
  16. "On the Nomination (Confirmation James C. Ho, of Texas, to be U.S. Circuit Judge for the Fifth Circuit)". United States Senate. December 14, 2017.
  17. "Clarence Thomas and the Billionaire". ProPublica. April 6, 2023. Retrieved April 6, 2023.
  18. "Remarks by President Trump on Judicial Appointments – The White House". trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov.
  19. Raymond, Nate (September 30, 2022). "Trump-appointed judge boycotts Yale for law clerks over 'cancel culture'". Reuters.
  20. Alder, Madison (September 30, 2022). "US Judge Won't Hire Yale Law Clerks Citing 'Cancel Culture' (1)". Bloomberg Law. Retrieved November 6, 2022.
  21. Raymond, Nate (October 7, 2022). "2nd Trump-appointed judge publicly says she will not hire Yale clerks". Reuters.
  22. Zimmerman v. City of Austin, 881 F.3d 378 (5th Cir. 2018).
  23. Stern, Mark Joseph (April 24, 2018). "Trump Judge Judges Trumpily". slate.com. Retrieved May 6, 2018.
  24. Smith, Bradley (May 2, 2018). "Trump-appointed judge delivers fantastic campaign finance opinion in first ruling". The Washington Examiner. Retrieved May 6, 2018.
  25. Diaz, Kevin (July 18, 2018). "Gov. Abbott staffer Andrew Oldham confirmed to 5th Circuit Court of Appeals". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved February 17, 2022.
  26. "IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FIFTH CIRCT No. 20-50407: Texas Democratic Party, et al. v. Greg Abbott, et al" (PDF). June 4, 2020. Retrieved June 4, 2020.
  27. "Federal appeals court extends block on voting-by-mail expansion in Texas". June 4, 2020. Retrieved June 4, 2020.
  28. "Texas Democratic Party v. Abbott, 961 F.3d 389 (5th Cir. June 4, 2020) - Google Scholar". scholar.google.co.uk. Retrieved October 13, 2020.
  29. "Texas Democratic Party v. Abbott, No. 20-50407 (5th Cir. Sep. 10, 2020) - Google Scholar". scholar.google.co.uk. Retrieved October 13, 2020.
  30. Ura, Alexa (June 16, 2020). "Texas Democrats ask U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in on voting by mail". The Texas Tribune. Retrieved June 18, 2020.
  31. "Texas LULAC v. Hughs, No. 20-50867 (5th Cir. Oct 12, 2020)" (PDF).
  32. "Court reinstates Texas limit on ballot drop-off locations". Associated Press. October 13, 2020.
  33. Platoff, Emma (October 13, 2020). "Texas counties can offer only one drop-off ballot location, federal appeals court rules, upholding Gov. Greg Abbott's order". The Texas Tribune. Retrieved October 14, 2020.
  34. "State of Texas v. Charles P. Rettig" (PDF). ca5.uscourts.gov. April 9, 2021. Retrieved October 5, 2021.
  35. "A Hard-Right Trump Judge Battles Texas Officials Who Jail Their Critics". Slate. February 24, 2023. Retrieved February 24, 2023.
  36. "Gonzalez v. Trevino" (PDF). ca5.uscourts.gov. February 22, 2023. Retrieved February 24, 2023.
  37. Wheeler, Lydia (August 18, 2023). "Ho Cites Doctor 'Aesthetic' Injuries in Abortion Pill Case". Bloomberg Law. Retrieved August 19, 2023.
  38. King, Pamela (August 19, 2023). "Why the latest abortion pill ruling has enviros rolling their eyes". Politico. Retrieved August 19, 2023.
  39. Perez, Andrew; Rock, Julia (August 18, 2023). "The Antiabortion Judge With a Financial Ethics Problem". Jacobin. Retrieved August 19, 2023.
  40. "Ho, Allyson N."
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