From helping the Bush-era Justice Department interpret the Geneva Conventions in the fight against al-Queda to defending the University of Texas’ affirmative action policy in admissions, James Ho has rarely been far from the headlines. Currently a partner in Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher’s Dallas office, Ho, 38, has been a clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, chief counsel to Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), solicitor general of Texas and an official in two of the most politically charged arms of Justice: the Civil Rights Division and the Office of Legal Counsel.
Before stepping down as Texas’ top courtroom lawyer last year, Ho secured a 16-1 en banc ruling against local officials challenging the Texas Open Meetings Act. During an earlier stint at Gibson Dunn, he led a group of plaintiffs in a successful challenge to a Texas law barring citizens from attempting to influence the selection of the speaker of the Texas House of Representatives.
