WASHINGTON, DC – President Donald Trump broke the all-time record on first-year judicial appointments to the federal appeals courts on Thursday, as the Senate confirmed James Ho to the U.S. Court of Appeals to the Fifth Circuit, a nominee notable as a racial minority who is outspoken on the importance of constitutional conservatism.
Senators voted 53-43 to confirm Ho of the Fifth Circuit, which has jurisdiction over Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. Democrats voted overwhelming against Ho, as they have done for all of President Trump’s nominees to the appeals courts.
Unlike some judicial nominees, Ho is assertive and unapologetic about his adherence to originalism—the judicial philosophy that the Constitution must always be interpreted according to the original public meaning of its words. When senators asked him if he was an originalist, instead of the verbal tap-dance many nominees do to avoid that hot-button term, he answered bluntly, “Yes, I am an originalist.”
Ho likewise trumpets his affiliation with the conservative Federalist Society, which is vilified daily in left-of-center circles. Rather than downplay that connection, when asked if he was connected to the organization, he answered, “I am proud to be a member of the Federalist Society. I have been a member since my earliest days in law school.”
“Being a member of the Society has not only made me a better lawyer,” he continued. “It has also touched my life in as profoundly deep and personal way as one could imagine: I first met my wife Allyson at a Federalist Society law school event.”
His critics on the political left fixate on his Federalist Society credentials. Ho “is one of the most fervent and vociferous supporters of the Federalist Society,” said liberal activist Vanita Gupta of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, noting that he has been a member since 1996, “has held 10 different national and local leadership positions in the organization, and attended every one of the Federalist Society’s annual conventions since the late 1990s.”