The heart of every conservative was broken the day Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia died.
On the Court, he was the pillar of everything that those on the right stood for: limited government and personal freedom. Not only was he extremely witty and intelligent, he was a fun human being (ask Ruth Bader Ginsburg).
He was everything you could ask for in a conservative Supreme Court Justice.
Last week I wrote a column on what Trump should consider doing in hist first 100 days. The first suggestion I made was the selection of a Supreme Court nominee. While I was thinking of who he should choose, one name kept coming to mind— Texas Supreme Court Justice Don Willett. In that column, I wrote a short explanation of why Don Willett should be chosen for SCOTUS. I thought expanding on that thought was quite appropriate.
It is not as though Trump does not know of Justice Willett. When Trump released his list of 11 judges he was considering for the Supreme Court, Willett’s name was on that list. While at the time—and even now—no one knew how serious that list was, it seems like now Trump may stick to it as his shortlist, seeing as he won the presidency.
The Tweeter Laureate
Justice Willett is already pretty famous, not only for his cracking legal decisions, but for his ability to connect with the rest of America through Twitter. @JusticeWillett has about 74,000 loyal followers who get the opportunity to see the fun side of a Texas Supreme Court Justice.
For me, the most important/least important reason for Justice Willett’s nomination is his Twitter account. Willett’s Twitter is probably the best example of why judges are the wittiest human beings among us. Justice Willett brings a needed human element to the branch, which rarely speaks. It’s amusing to see someone who decides the future of Texas have a little fun.
The Right Replacement
There are also some serious reasons why he should be nominated to SCOTUS. The most important thing about Justice Willett: he’s the replacement Scalia deserves, and the one he truly needs. Justice Scalia always said his biggest fear in death was that his replacement would be someone who was his ideological opposite. Therefore, it is pretty pertinent that President Trump honors that most-high of wishes. With Justice Willett, Scalia’s nightmare is not a worry.
Justice Willett is very classically liberal and isn’t afraid to show it. He has come out with many decisions focused on keeping the government small and the individual free. In a case where it was decided that Texas eyebrow threaders would not have to indulge in 750 hours of training, Justice Willett wrote that the case was, “fundamentally about the American dream.”
He also has more libertarian quips, like “police power cannot go unpoliced.” While the phrase is inherently catchy, it’s also correct. With Justice Willett on the Supreme Court, Antonin Scalia can rest easy knowing that his legacy is preserved.
Using Trump’s Favorite Weapon Against Him
Willett is somewhat of a Trump critic. As this article points out, Justice Willett is a fan of poking fun at the now-president. He hasn’t publicly come out and questioned Trump’s proposed policies, but he’s taken to Twitter (aka Trump’s playground) to do so.
Choosing Willett would be a great move on the part of Trump; choose the guy who’s made fun of you on Twitter. The optics of that move are utterly fantastic. And it would quell some conservative fear that Trump is going to nominate someone who is more liberal.
Justice Willett is a new kind of animal (probably a bull). The Texas Observer ran a piece on Justice Willett after he was named to Trump’s list of 11. The piece was entitled “Don Willett’s Quiet Revolution,” and that sums him up pretty well—a quiet revolutionary. He is changing the way that we view judges. They’re no longer high-above, shadowy figures with fancy wigs. He’s just fun (like Scalia); take the time he started a decision with a reference to The Lion King.
This whole column may be a little biased, since I love to follow the various adventures of Justice Willett on Twitter. Maybe I’m internally amused by the possible sight of a SCOTUS justice working on the nation’s most vital cases from the inside of a Chick-fil-A. But honestly, I just want the best pick for the Supreme Court—and that’s Justice Willett.
Assistant opinion editor Jorden Smith is a political science and creative writing senior and can be reached at [email protected]
