James Ho

The former Texas Solicitor General who served under Greg Abbott when Abbott was Texas Attorney General issued a scathing denunciation of the Governor Abbott's COVID executive actions. Justice James Ho, who clerked for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, now sits on the U.S. Fifth Circuit (appointed by President Trump in 2017). Here is one quote from his concurrence in Texas LULAC v Hughs (No. 20-50687) issued on Monday, October 12: “The district court was wrong to rewrite Texas law. But the distinguished judge who did so was simply following in the Governor’s footsteps. It is surely just as offensive to the Constitution to rewrite Texas election law by executive fiat as it is to do so by judicial fiat. Yet that is what occurred here. Respected legislators and public leaders called on the Governor to call a special session so that legislators in both parties could consider and debate amendments to the state’s election rules to accommodate voter concerns arising out of the pandemic. But the Governor rejected those calls, and instead issued a series of executive proclamations purporting to unilaterally ‘suspend’ various Texas election laws.” The rest of the concurrence and opinion is well worth reading. It can be found at: http://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/20/20-50867-CV0.pdf