“Today’s forecast: Party sunny with ZERO % chance of legislating from the bench.” “Agree 100%. Must be mortifying to have ‘Washington’ in your name ==> ‘Harry Reid Calls On NFL To Rename Redskins.’ (cite to Politico story).” These are just two of over 10,000 tweets from @JusticeWillett, a.k.a. Don Willett, Justice of the Supreme Court of Texas.
Anyone can send a lot of tweets. But more than just being active on Twitter, Justice Willett has over 5,500 followers. That’s a serious number. Not everyone can do that. Justice Willett says that he is probably the most avid judicial tweeter in America. And some have labeled him the most interesting public official on Twitter (which he says is “a bar so low it’s subterranean”).
If you think that it’s unusual for a Supreme Court Justice to be on Twitter, here’s something else that separates Justice Willett from just about all other high court Justices – he was age 39 when appointed to Texas’s top civil court. A master of Twitter and joining the Texas Supreme Court before 40 do not seem coincidental.
While an actively tweeting Supreme Court Justice may raise eyebrows now, Justice Willett (who also has a website and Facebook page) is an example of things to come. His use of social media provides a look into the future of the judiciary.
Justice Willett was kind enough to engage in a written Q&A for Coverage Opinions. I asked him about joining the Supreme Court at such a young age, Twitter, how much he enjoys coverage cases, the best way to spend a day in Austin and a few other things.
Speaking of insurance coverage, in the article that follows I set out 1,600 words making the case that Justice Willett is the most important liability insurance coverage judge in America. That is obviously a non-scientific conclusion. However, I believe that the article is well-reasoned and methodical in explaining how I reached that conclusion. At the time that I asked Justice Willett if he would do a Q&A, nor at any time prior to receiving his responses, did I tell him that I planned to write this companion insurance article.
His Bio
Justice Willett earned a triple-major BBA from Baylor University in 1988 and his J.D., with honors, along with an A.M. in political science from Duke University in 1992. After law school he served as a clerk to Judge Jerre S. Williams of the Fifth Circuit. Then, from 1993 to 1996, he practiced employment/labor law in the Austin office of Haynes and Boone.
From 1996 to 2000, Justice Willett was Director of Research & Special Projects for then-Governor Bush, and later was Domestic Policy & Special Projects Adviser to the Bush-Cheney 2000 Presidential Campaign and Transition Team. Other pre-judicial positions included: Special Assistant to the President in the White House, providing legal counsel on religious liberty and other issues; Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Legal Policy at the U.S. Department of Justice, where he played a key role in the President’s judicial selection and nominations process; and Deputy Texas Attorney General, serving as chief legal adviser to Attorney General Greg Abbott on the complete array of major legal issues confronting Texas.
In August 2005, Justice Willett, then age 39, was appointed to the Supreme Court of Texas by Governor Rick Perry to fill the vacancy created when Justice Priscilla Owen joined the Fifth Circuit. He was elected to a full term in November 2006 and again won re-election in 2012. His current term expires on December 31, 2018.
Judicial Experience: From None To An LLM
Noticeably absent from Justice Willett’s pre-Supreme Court resume is any judicial experience. But he turns this into a positive, stating: “There’s actually a good bit of academic research hailing how career diversity on collegial, multi-member courts produces more refined opinions. We’re all a product of our professional backgrounds, and my service in different branches of government on the state and federal levels perhaps makes me more attentive to building block principles like separation of powers.”
Not only did Justice Willett come to the Supreme Court with no prior judicial experience, or staff for that matter (Justice Owen’s staff went with her to the Fifth Circuit), but he was immediately thrown into the deep-end. When he arrived the Court was deadlocked 4-4 on several cases and waiting on his desk was a memo from the Chief Justice asking for his tie-breaking vote.
While several years have passed since Justice Willett’s trial by fire, he recognizes that there is still more to learn, telling me that in mid-May he’ll begin the Judicial Studies LLM program at his alma mater, Duke Law School. “My wife laments that one day I’ll have more degrees than a thermometer.”
He says that he hopes to emerge from the LLM program “with a broadened, more sophisticated approach to judging.” “I want to be receptive to smarter ways to tackle my job. If there are ways I can elevate the quality of my work, understand my role better, and perform my duties better, I want to embrace them. But even if I approach cases in largely the same way, I want that approach to be the product of rigorous examination, not rote repetition. Again, I want to be an exceptional judge, one with a sterling reputation for disciplined and top-tier analysis. I trust the LLM program will up my game.”
Twitter
Justice Willett says that he thinks he is “metabolically hardwired for the cloistered, contemplative, cerebral and ultra-nerdy life of Supreme Court judging.” That sure is a strange description for a (verified) Twitterer, with over 5,500 followers, probably the most avid judicial tweeter in America and who some have labeled the most interesting public official on Twitter.
After all, there is nothing cloistered about engaging in an activity that is designed to share your views with the entire world. And there is certainly nothing cerebral when those views must be expressed in 140 characters or fewer. But maybe that’s why Justice Willett enjoys Twitter so much and why he is so good at it. It may be the outlet that he needs, as an outgoing, people person, whose job is so solitary. Being a trial judge is a schmooze-fest. The same certainly cannot be said about sitting on an appellate bench.
Justice Willett came to Twitter in October 2009 and tweeted only sporadically until his 2012 reelection campaign ramped up. He says he tweets “mainly as a campaign communication tool. More and more people consume information online, especially political information. Bottom line: for someone who has to run for reelection in a state of 26 million people, it’s political malpractice not to engage via social media.” He also tells me that “people find it rare and refreshing for a Supreme Court Justice to step out from behind the bench and demystify things. Folks are surprised that stiff judges can be comedic, authentic and informative.”
But surely Supreme Court Justices aren’t allowed to tweet, you may be thinking. Justice Willett tells me that the Supreme Court has never told him no, not to mention that the ABA has declared it Kosher, stating as follows in Formal Opinion 462 (February 21, 2013): “Judicious use of ESM [electronic social media] can benefit judges in both their personal and professional lives. As their use of this technology increases, judges can take advantage of its utility and potential as a valuable tool for public outreach. When used with proper care, judges’ use of ESM does not necessarily compromise their duties under the Model Code any more than use of traditional and less public forms of social connection such as U.S. Mail, telephone, email or texting.”
But just because Twitter is permissible doesn’t mean that it doesn’t require care and attention. Justice Willett has some self-imposed rules for his Twitter use. “One cardinal rule: I don’t throw partisan sharp elbows or discuss issues that could appear before the Court. While I post links to U.S. legal news, I never give my $0.02 on disputed legal issues or pending cases. I strive to keep things witty, informative and interesting.” He says about Twitter: “Succinctness is the enemy of nuance. It’s tough to be precise in 140 characters, so conveying tone/nuance is tough. I just self-censor and try to be careful.”
Justice Willett’s tweets cover many bases. Some popular topics include, in no particular order, family observations, Texas pride, patriotism, religion, U.S. Supreme Court decisions, Texas Supreme Court events, his love for Blue Bell Ice Cream, sports, television, movies, holidays, politics, law school, news of the day and inane and obscure observations (often accompanied with photos) where his humor and wit really shines. Some tweets in the inane and obscure observations category are laugh out loud funny. If you are on Twitter you will not regret hitting the follow button for @JusticeWillett. If you are not on Twitter, this is a reason to get on board.
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