Posted on 08/24/2005 5:31:25 PM PDT by SwinneySwitch
AUSTIN – Former Bush adviser and state lawyer Don R. Willett, named today to the Texas Supreme Court by Gov. Rick Perry, said he won't take part in a key pending case to decide whether the state's school finance system is constitutional.
Willett has most recently served as chief legal counsel to Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, whose office is defending the school finance law. Abbott's office has argued that the school funding level is a matter for lawmakers, not the courts, to decide.
"I just want to make sure that whatever decision the court reaches is beyond reproach," Willett said, even though he said he's kept himself "walled off" from the case. "I'm just going to step aside and recuse myself."
Willett previously worked for President Bush in the White House Office of Faith-based and Community Initiatives, and he worked for Bush's 2000 campaign.
On the state court, h e replaces Priscilla Owen, who was sworn in to the 5 th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in June.
Willett has not previously served as a judge. Perry, in appointing him, said he "joins a long and distinguished list of previous justices" whose high court appointment represented "the first time they put on a robe," including state Supreme Court Chief Justice Wallace Jefferson of San Antonio and U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist.
With Willett, the nine-member court includes five members who were initially named by Perry to fill a vacancy. Two have since won election in their own right. The others, including Willett, will stand for election.
Other Supreme Court Justices, Abbott and Willett's mother, wife and young son were among those who joined Perry and Willett for the announcement.
Willett paid tribute to his mother, Doris, whom he said supported the family by waiting tables after his father died.
"I stand today squarely on her shoulders," Willett said.
pfikac@express-news.net
Just drove I-37 to Corpus Christi. Exit 47, right?
Si.
Are you related to Buck West?
No, I'm not. My son is s freshman at A&M-CC, so I'll be passing through occasionally.
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