Confirmed hero: Justice Don Willett performs Heimlich maneuver on restaurant patron

Brett T. | 8:29 PM on November 28, 2017

When we most recently checked in on Justice Don Willett, Democratic Senators Patrick Leahy and Al Franken were grilling the Fifth Circuit nominee on something from his recent past: this tweet.

Go away, A-Rod. “@FoxNews: California's transgender law allows male high schooler to make girls' softball team http://t.co/hnTrWAaV8g"

— Judge Don Willett (@JusticeWillett) February 14, 2014

Willett was confronted over the joke by none other than Franken, who told him, “I don’t get the joke,” adding, “Sometimes, when you don’t get a joke, it’s because it wasn’t a joke.” Leahy, too, was disturbed by that tweet and this one:

I could support recognizing a constitutional right to marry bacon. pic.twitter.com/HKPW6tE4H6

— Judge Don Willett (@JusticeWillett) April 30, 2015

A sitting state justice telling a transgender teenager to go away & equating marriage equality to marrying bacon (even in jest) is sending a clear message: Not all are welcome in his courtroom. And that's no laughing matter. https://t.co/X8CpCDQBK6

— Sen. Patrick Leahy (@SenatorLeahy) November 15, 2017

We’ll just leave that tweet there, and instead, imagine if a transgender teenager or anyone else in Willett’s courtroom suffered a choking emergency. That’s no laughing matter either, but anyone would be lucky to have Willett there.

This Day in Judicial “Activism”: @JusticeWillett successfully performed the Heimlich maneuver on a fellow dad at a @ChickfilA in Austin this evening.

Seriously though, the next time our Court offers a lifesaving training class, I am signing up. I need a refresher course.

— Judge Stephen Dillard (@JudgeDillard) November 29, 2017

Excellent.

https://twitter.com/Jaime_ASantos/status/935665948194832384

What she said.

10/10 would vote to confirm.

— Stephen W. Hudson (@StephenWHudson1) November 29, 2017

* * *

Update:

I am the dad that was saved by the quick action of the two men. I am very thankful for their help. It was all very fast, overwhelming and embarrassing. I cannot thank them enough.

— Danny Martinez (@utdmart) November 29, 2017

* * *