Judge James C. Ho will argue that fidelity to the Constitution requires principled originalism as part of The University of Toledo College of Law’s Stranahan Lecture series.
His lecture, titled “Fair-Weather Originalism: Judges, Umpires, and the Fear of Being Booed,” will be delivered Tuesday, April 11, at noon in the McQuade Law Auditorium at the Law Center.
Judge James C. Ho will argue that fidelity to the Constitution requires principled originalism as part of The University of Toledo College of Law’s Stranahan Lecture series April 11.
Ho, who sits on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, will explain how principled originalists need strong moral character, not just raw intelligence, in order to fulfill their oaths. Ho will defend the use of originalism as a process that can overcome partisan lines.
“As the use of originalism by the Supreme Court and other courts has grown, so has controversy over that use,” said Lee J. Strang, John W. Stoepler Professor of Law and Values at the College of Law. “Judge Ho’s lecture will defend and critique judges’ use of originalism. His lecture is sure to provoke discussion and conversation.”
Before taking the bench in 2018, Ho was a partner and co-chair of the national Appellate and Constitutional Law practice group of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP.
As an appellate litigator for over a decade, Ho presented 50 oral arguments in federal and state courts nationwide. He won numerous appeals as lead counsel, including three merits cases at the U.S. Supreme Court. As the Solicitor General of Texas, he won a Best Brief Award from the National Association of Attorneys General for each of the three years that he served. He is also the only state solicitor general ever invited by the U.S. Supreme Court to express the views of a state.
His record of public service also includes appointments as vice chair of the Federal Judicial Evaluation Committee in Texas and co-chair of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association Judiciary Committee, and as a member of the U.S. Magistrate Judge Merit Selection Panel for the Northern District of Texas, the U.S. delegation to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, and the Continuity of Government Commission.
Ho is a graduate of Stanford University and the University of Chicago Law School.
This free, public lecture is a part of the Stranahan National Issues Forum and is sponsored by the College of Law and its chapter of the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies. For more information, visit the Stranahan Lecture’s webpage.
