The Chronicle is reporting this morning that 39 year-old Don Willett, an Austin attorney with close ties to President Bush, will be nominated today by Governor Rick Perry to replace Priscilla Owen on the Texas Supreme Court.
Mr. Willett is a native Texan who graduated from Baylor University and received a JD with honors and an AM in Political Science from Duke University in 1992. After law school, Mr. Willett clerked for Judge Jerre S. Williams of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and then worked in employment law at the Austin office of Haynes & Boone for several years.
From 1996-2000, Mr. Willett served as Research/Special Projects Director for then-Governor Bush in Texas and advised Mr. Bush on various political and legal issues. He parlayed that position into a Domestic Policy & Special Projects Advisor position on the Bush-Cheney 2000 Presidential Campaign and then later on the Presidential Transition Team. In 2002, Mr. Willett was appointed as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Legal Policy where he developed civil and criminal justice initiatives and special projects for the President, including coordinating assistance with judicial nominations and confirmations. After that stint, Mr. Willett served as Special Assistant to the President and Director of Law and Policy for the White House Office of Faith-Based & Community Initiatives and, most recently, as a key advisor for his old friend, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott.
After nomination, Mr. Willett could serve on the Supreme Court without Senate confirmation until the Legislature is called into session, but he would still have to run for election to the seat next year.