Willett Takes Own Advice, “Bobs and Weaves” in Hearing

WASHINGTON, D.C., November 15 – Following today’s Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing for Don Willett, whom Donald Trump has nominated for a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, Alliance for Justice President Nan Aron released the following statement:

“As AFJ reported in our research, Don Willett has admitted that when he worked in George W. Bush’s Justice Department, he advised judicial nominees to be as evasive as possible and to ‘bob and weave’ in confirmation hearings. Today Willett did a great job of taking his own advice. He refused to say whether he now disagrees with the substance of a memo he once wrote in which he dismissed efforts to address women’s inequality in the workplace, including the existence of glass ceilings, pay disparity, and sexual harassment. He was evasive about a dissent he joined on the Texas Supreme Court, a dissent that suggested a 13-year old could legally consent to sexual relations with an adult. He also refused to acknowledge the anti-LGBTQ animosity on his famous Twitter feed. We want judges on the federal bench who display the highest degree of personal integrity and honesty, and today Willett fell far short of that standard. Given that and the evidence in his record that he would bring a strong anti-worker, anti-environment, anti-woman, anti-LGBTQ bias to the bench, Alliance for Justice strongly opposes Willett’s confirmation.”