James C. Ho

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James C. Ho
James C. Ho.png
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
Born1973 (age 48–49)
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]

James Chiun-Yue Ho (born 1973) is an American attorney and jurist serving as a United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

Early life and education[]

Ho was born in Taipei, Taiwan, in 1973.[1] He moved to the United States with his parents as a toddler.[2] He received his Bachelor of Arts in public policy, with honors, from Stanford University and a Juris Doctor with high honors, from the University of Chicago Law School in 1999.[2]

Legal career[]

After graduating from law school, Ho was a law clerk to Judge Jerry Edwin Smith of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit from 1999 to 2000.[1] He was in private practice in Washington, D.C., from 2000 to 2001.[1] He then joined the U.S. Department of Justice, first in the Civil Rights Division (2001) and then in the Office of Legal Counsel (2001-2003).[1] He was chief counsel to subcommittees of the Senate Judiciary Committee from 2003 to 2005[1] under Republican Senator John Cornyn.[3] He was then a law clerk to United States Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas from 2005 to 2006.[1] Ho was in private practice in Dallas, Texas from 2006 to 2008 and 2010 to 2017.[1] From 2008 to 2010, he was Solicitor General of Texas in the Office of the Attorney General of Texas,[1] replacing Ted Cruz in that position.[3] As Texas solicitor general, Ho led the state's lawsuits against the Obama administration.[3]

Ho has worked as a volunteer attorney with the First Liberty Institute, a religious legal advocacy organization.[4][5] He has held multiple positions as a member of the Federalist Society since 1996.[6]

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."[7][8] In a 2011 op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal, Ho wrote that "Opponents of illegal immigration cannot claim to champion the rule of law and then, in the same breath, propose policies that violate our Constitution."[8][9]

Federal judicial service[]

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.[10] Cruz had promoted Ho as a candidate for a vacancy on the court.[10] 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 took senior status.[11] On November 15, 2017, a hearing on his nomination was held before the Senate Judiciary Committee.[12] On December 7, 2017, his nomination was reported out of committee by a 11–9 vote.[13] On December 14, 2017, the full United States Senate voted 53–43 to confirm Ho's nomination.[14] He received his judicial commission on January 4, 2018.

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".[3]

On September 9, 2020, Trump included Ho on a list of potential nominees to the Supreme Court.[15]

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."[16][17][18]

On 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.[19][20][21][22][23]

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."[24][25][26] 

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.[27]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Ho, James C., History of the Federal Judiciary, Federal Judicial Center.
  2. ^ a b 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. ^ a b c d Johnson, Carrie (July 26, 2018). "Legal Opinions Or Political Commentary? A New Judge Exemplifies The Trump Era". NPR. Retrieved October 18, 2018.
  4. ^ "First Liberty Institute Congratulates Its Former Volunteer Attorney James C. Ho on His Judicial Confirmation" (Press release). December 14, 2017. Retrieved December 16, 2017.
  5. ^ Marcus, Ilana; Eaton, Joshua; Timms, Ed (March 20, 2020). "Federal judges: From political players to lifetime appointments". Roll Call. Retrieved May 24, 2020.
  6. ^ "Questionnaire for Judicial Nominees" (PDF). judiciary.senate.gov. Retrieved June 30, 2018.
  7. ^ 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.
  8. ^ a b 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.
  9. ^ 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.
  10. ^ a b Patrick Svitek & Emma Platoff, Trump taps two Texans — Willett and Ho — for judicial posts, Texas Tribune (September 28, 2017).
  11. ^ PN1108 — James C. Ho — The Judiciary, 115th Congress (2017-2018), Congress.gov.
  12. ^ United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary: Nominations for November 15, 2017
  13. ^ Results of Executive Business Meeting – December 7, 2017, Senate Judiciary Committee
  14. ^ U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 115th Congress – 1st Session United States Senate Vote Summary: Vote Number 317, United States Senate, December 14, 2017
  15. ^ "Remarks by President Trump on Judicial Appointments"
  16. ^ Zimmerman v. City of Austin, 881 F.3d 378 (5th Cir. 2018).
  17. ^ Stern, Mark Joseph (April 24, 2018). "Trump Judge Judges Trumpily". slate.com. Retrieved May 6, 2018.
  18. ^ Smith, Bradley (May 2, 2018). "Trump-appointed judge delivers fantastic campaign finance opinion in first ruling". The Washington Examiner. Retrieved May 6, 2018.
  19. ^ "IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT No. 20-50407: Texas Democratic Party, et al. v. Greg Abbott, et al" (PDF). June 4, 2020. Retrieved June 4, 2020.
  20. ^ "Federal appeals court extends block on voting-by-mail expansion in Texas". June 4, 2020. Retrieved June 4, 2020.
  21. ^ "Texas Democratic Party v. Abbott, 961 F.3d 389 (5th Cir. June 4, 2020) - Google Scholar". scholar.google.co.uk. Retrieved October 13, 2020.
  22. ^ "Texas Democratic Party v. Abbott, No. 20-50407 (5th Cir. Sep. 10, 2020) - Google Scholar". scholar.google.co.uk. Retrieved October 13, 2020.
  23. ^ 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.
  24. ^ "Texas LULAC v. Hughs, No. 20-50867 (5th Cir. Oct 12, 2020)" (PDF).
  25. ^ "Court reinstates Texas limit on ballot drop-off locations". Associated Press. October 13, 2020.
  26. ^ 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.
  27. ^ "State of Texas v. Charles P. Rettig" (PDF). ca5.uscourts.gov. April 9, 2021. Retrieved October 5, 2021.

External links[]

Legal offices
Preceded by
Ted Cruz
 Solicitor General of Texas
2008–2010 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
2018–present 		Incumbent
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