Don Willett
5 quotes
Biography
Donny Ray Willett is an American lawyer and jurist serving since 2018 as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. He was previously a justice of the Supreme Court of Texas from 2005 to 2018.
"Our Constitution exists to secure individual freedom, the essential condition of human flourishing. Liberty is not provided by government; liberty preexists government. It’s our natural birthright, not a gift from the sovereign. Our founders upended things and divided power to enshrine a promise, not a process."
"I diligently self-censor and aim for carefulness,” Willett told me, “A few cardinal rules: I don’t throw partisan sharp elbows or discuss pending cases. I keep things light and upbeat. Whether you’re crafting a 140-page opinion or a 140-character tweet, judges must always be judicious."
"Judges should always behave judicially by adjudicating, never politically by legislating. I leave policy to policymakers. They’re preeminent, but they’re not omnipotent. In other words, lawmakers decide if laws pass, but judges decide if laws pass muster. There’s a fateful difference between activist judges who concoct rights and active judges who dutifully protect the rights our Framers actually enshrined."
"In parenting, as in judging, the days are long, but the years are short."
"A Charlie Brown Christmas' is a national treasure because it delivers beautifully the central miracle of Christmas: Emmanuel - God With Us. From the wood of the manger to the wood of the cross."