Friday’s “You Are Not a Horse” Judge Don Willett Fan Club Open Comments

First, we have this from Texas Tribune relishing Judge Willett taking a light beating for his notorious Twitter presence back during his 2017 nomination hearings.

A Texas Supreme Court Justice’s popular Twitter account, and its future, drew sharp questions from U.S. senators Wednesday as two of President Donald Trump’s Texas nominees for federal court openings faced their confirmation hearings.

Texas Supreme Court Justice Don Willett and Dallas appellate attorney Jim Ho, both nominees to the powerful, conservative U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, defended their past statements and legal work in a joint hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee

During more than two hours of questioning, senators directed the vast majority of their attention to Willett, a longtime judge and social media phenomenon who has drawn both praise and criticism for his prolific Twitter account. Senators took issue with the “Tweeter Laureate” both for his outsized presence on the social media platform and for a pair of particularly controversial tweets related to LGBT issues.

Judge Don Willett’s Twitter logo back in his tweeting days.

Willett told the committee several times that if he resumes tweeting after being confirmed to the bench, his focus would be on civic education. “It’d be above the fray,” he said.

“Don’t you think the wiser course would be to just not do it?” U.S. Sen. John Kennedy, a Louisiana Republican, asked him.

“You and my wife have a mindmeld on this,” Willett joked in response.

To the main subject at last which has received virtually no recognition for a solid week in the limping, flaccid mainstream news media of our nation. Judge Donny Ray Willett, of Talty, Texas and currently of the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals opened his ruling with the following statement:

“You are not a horse.”

Full document here.

From The Epoch Times:

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) likely overstepped its authority when it told Americans to “stop” using ivermectin against COVID-19, a federal court ruled on Sept. 1.

“FDA can inform, but it has identified no authority allowing it to recommend consumers ‘stop’ taking medicine,” U.S. Circuit Judge Don Willett wrote in the ruling.

The FDA has authority under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to convey information to consumers.

and,

U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Brown ruled against the doctors in 2022, finding that doctors had not proven an exception to sovereign immunity and that there was no indication the FDA acted outside of the authority conferred by the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.

Judge Brown erred on the second point as well, according to the new ruling.

“Nothing in the Act’s plain text authorizes FDA to issue medical advice or recommendations,” Judge Willett said.

The judge, who sits on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, was joined by U.S. Circuit Judges Edith Brown Clement and Jennifer Walker Elrod.

Judges Willett and Brown were appointed under President Donald Trump. Judges Clement and Elrod were appointed under President George W. Bush.

LATE UPDATE:  Last night, a three judge panel at the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans overruled the federal judge from the Western District of Texas on his order to Texas to remove the flotation barrier in the Rio Grande River.  It stays there until further notice and the issues are resolved.