A SCOTUS Short-Lister Has Flip-Flopped to Embrace One of Trump's Worst Positions

[In It to Win It]

A SCOTUS Short-Lister Has Flip-Flopped to Embrace One of Trump's Worst Positions

Judge James Ho secured his spot on Donald Trump’s likely Supreme Court short list by staking out extreme, far-right positions that cleave to the MAGA movement’s goals. There’s really been only one glaring exception: Ho has long endorsed birthright citizenship, the constitutional guarantee that virtually everyone born on American soil automatically becomes an American citizen. The son of immigrants himself, Ho has written eloquently in support of this principle, refuting conservative arguments for its abolition. But Trump just won reelection on a promise to abolish birthright citizenship, and he seems unlikely to elevate a vocal foe of his own plan to the high court.

It should surprise no one, then, that less than a week after the election, Ho is already walking back his once-steadfast commitment to this fundamental right. In an interview with the conservative law professor Josh Blackman published on Monday, Ho sketched out his excuse to repudiate birthright citizenship by framing immigrants who lack permanent legal status as “invading aliens” whose children born on U.S. soil may be denied citizenship by states and the federal government. It is a strange and illogical claim with no basis in constitutional text or Supreme Court precedent. But Ho’s audience is not lawyers, journalists, or immigration experts; it’s Trump and his allies, whom he clearly seeks to convince of his total ideological commitment to MAGA. His backflip is yet another ominous confirmation that we should expect Trump’s next round of judges to not show even a glimmer of independence: They will be selected for their loyalty to the president’s agenda and spend the next four years auditioning accordingly.

Ho currently sits on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. It’s the most extreme appeals court in the country, an ultraconservative, brazenly partisan body that relentlessly reshapes the law in the Republican Party’s image, often going too far for even this very right-wing Supreme Court. Even among his reactionary colleagues, Ho stands out as a bomb thrower. On every conceivable issue, he takes the stance preferred by GOP hard-liners. He uses pugnacious, sometimes trollish oratory to present himself as Trump’s avatar on the bench, an unapologetic brawler who fights for ordinary people against woke liberals and condescending elites.

All these traits make Ho a perfect candidate for the Supreme Court under Trump’s second term. There’s just that one problem: On birthright citizenship, Ho has consistently bucked Trumpist orthodoxy. In 2006, while working in private practice, Ho wrote a concise, persuasive law review article defending the principle. Nearly a decade later, Ho transformed his article into a piece for the Federalist, a Trump-aligned media outlet. His message to the GOP seemed unmistakable: Birthright citizenship sits at the heart of the Constitution, and any attempt to revoke it would be an ill-fated betrayal of the 14th Amendment.

[viva la]

1. This is horrifying.

How many of our grandparents and parents would have been in some uncertain status?
And how long would that last? Would the NEXT gen also be non-citizens?

This is so unAmerican. And how very Trumpian that this judge-- who himself is a "birthright citizen"-- would join Vance (married to a woman born here of immigrant parents) and Trump (married to 2 women who very likely were both here illegally) in denying the benefits they received to others.

[dalton99a]

2. Ho will be a splendid addition to the collection of monsters on the court