Meet the Two Judges Trump Tapped for an Appeals Court: Your Texas Roundup

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Here’s what he’s essentially saying to Houston: ‘DROP DEAD'”

—The Houston Chronicle in a scathing editorial. The editorial board unloaded on Governor Greg Abbott for not tapping into Texas’s Rainy Day Fund for Hurricane Harvey relief.

BIG NEWS

U.S. President Donald Trump waves as he walks on the South Lawn prior to his departure from the White House on September 26, 2017.Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images

Judgment Call
On Thursday, President Donald Trump selected two conservative lawyers in Texas to sit on a powerful appeals court. Texas Supreme Court Justice Don Willett and former Texas Solicitor General James Ho were nominated to sit on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, a seventeen-judge panel which currently has two vacancies, according to the Dallas Morning News. “No words. I am honored & humbled by @POTUS‘s nomination to the 5th Circuit,” Willett wrote in a tweet, also thanking Senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, who suggested him as a nominee. It’s probably the first time that Willett has been out of things to say, particularly on social media. Named “Tweeter Laureate” by the Texas House in 2015, Willett entertains his 100,000 followers with legal puns, which, according to the Morning News, he uses “to reach voters who are under-informed about judicial candidates.” In addition to his Twitter fingers, Willett’s legal career previously got him onto Trump’s short list for a Supreme Court nomination. Ho, meanwhile, will make history if he secures a spot, as the first Asian-American to sit on the Fifth Circuit Court Appeals. He would be the tenth Asian-American federal appellate judge in history. “He argued some of this country’s toughest cases before its highest courts. I am confident that he will be a stellar jurist and an intellectual force on the court,” Cruz said, according to the Morning News.

MEANWHILE, IN TEXAS

Fried Foods, Y’all
The State Fair of Texas opens today, and there are plenty of fried foods to eat. Check out the State Fair’s list of Big Tex Choice Awards for some of the bizarre fair fare you can expect this year, which includes fried Texas sheet cake and something called the Surfin’ Turfin’ Tator Boat. There’s other stuff to do aside from eat, we guess. You can browse the livestock show, ride the rides, check out the auto show, or catch one of the many free concerts running through October 22. Country music darling Maren Morris takes the Chevrolet Main Stage for opening day, with Flo Rida and La Mafia rounding out opening weekend acts. Get your stomachs ready and say howdy to Big Tex for us.

Gun Play
Two days after he was shot in the head by a fellow teenager, a fifteen-year-old from Garland has died. According to the Associated Press, the victim, seventeen-year-old Andy Erives, and a third teen were playing with a gun in a home on Tuesday when Erives shot the fifteen-year-old, whose name has not been released. AP reports that it is not yet clear if the shooting was intentional. Erives fled the home after the shooting, but was later detained by police as the victim remained in critical condition. Erives’s charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon was elevated to manslaughter when the victim died.