Don Willett
| Don Willett | |
|---|---|
| Justice of the Supreme Court of Texas | |
|
Assumed office August 24, 2005 |
|
| Appointed by | Rick Perry |
| Preceded by | Priscilla Owen |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
July 16, 1966 Talty, Texas, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse(s) | Tiffany Willett |
| Children | 3 |
| Education |
Baylor University (BBA) Duke University (MA, JD) |
Don R. Willett (born July 16, 1966) is a Justice on the Supreme Court of Texas. He was appointed by Governor Rick Perry on August 24, 2005, to fill the vacancy created when former Justice Priscilla Owen joined the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Willett was elected on November 7, 2006, and re-elected on November 6, 2012, to a six-year term that ends December 31, 2018.
A native Texan, Willett was born and raised in Talty in Kaufman County. His adoptive father died at the age of forty, when Willett was six, and he and his older sister (Donny and Donna) were reared by their mother, Doris, who waited tables to support the family. Neither of Willett’s parents finished high school. Willett attended public schools in Forney in Kaufman County, having graduated in 1984, and then became his family’s first college graduate.
Willett received a triple-major BBA (economics, finance, public administration) from Baylor University in 1988. While at Baylor, he was a member of the Baylor Chamber of Commerce. He received his Juris Doctor with honors, along with an M.A. in political science, from Duke University in 1992.
After law school, Willett clerked for Judge at the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Willett then practiced employment and labor law in the Austin office of Haynes and Boone, LLP from 1993-1996. During that time, he also served as senior fellow with the Texas Public Policy Foundation. Justice Willett has also served as a non-resident fellow with the Program for Research on Religion and Urban Civil Society (PRRUCS) at the University of Pennsylvania.
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