Fifth Circuit’s Ho Calls on Judges to Embrace ‘Harsh Criticism’

A prominent conservative appeals court judge called on his colleagues to “get comfortable” with “harsh criticism,” even as judicial decisions that hinge on the US Constitution’s original meaning face backlash.

Judge James Ho of the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on Wednesday spoke out against “fair weather originalism” in a lecture at the conservative Heritage Foundation in Washington, DC. Ho, appointed by then-President Donald Trump in 2018, spoke in favor of “originalism,” a judicial philosophy that calls for adherence to the Constitution’s meaning when it was first written.

“If you’re an originalist only when elites won’t be ...