Media

ABC News Questions Legitimacy Of Possible Trump SCOTUS Pick Because His Twitter Jokes Supposedly Raise ‘Questions Of Judicial Impartiality’

Justice Don Willett explains his tweeting habits./Screenshot
Virginia Kruta Associate Editor
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President Donald Trump reiterated his plan to draw from his already published list of potential replacements after Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy announced his retirement on Wednesday. ABC News questioned the legitimacy of one on that list, Judge Don Willett of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Willett, a former Texas Supreme Court justice, has a fairly active Twitter presence that made ABC News question his “odd social media habits.” (RELATED: Kennedy Calls It Quits: Longtime Swing Justice Hands Trump The Biggest Gift Of His Presidency)

In an article published Saturday, ABC’s Adia Robinson questioned whether Willett’s frequent tweets were a possible indicator that he would have difficulty being impartial.

But with Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy announcing his retirement on Wednesday, and Willett’s name appearing on a list of Trump’s potential Supreme Court nominees, the judge’s frequent tweeting last year raises questions of judicial impartiality.

Robinson also quoted George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley, who argued that “those types of comments do considerable damage to the integrity of the court.”

The Texas judge has been relatively silent over the last several months on Twitter since joining the Fifth Circuit, but he rang in 2018 by “rick-rolling” his followers with a Rick Astley throwback.

Other tweets cited as “evidence” in the ABC piece included a photograph of Texas-shaped cornbread, and a conversation with his son, who had confused ‘Eminem’ and ’eminent.’

Willet’s other tweets show a fascination “Calvin and Hobbes,” puns and wordplay, but very few appear to be politically driven.