[8] Ho's Taiwanese American family immigrated to the United States when he was a child, moving first to Long Island before settling in San Marino, California.

[11] Ho volunteered as an actor and dancer for school plays and briefly served as a football lineman.

[12] He earned his Juris Doctor degree with high honors and membership in the Order of the Coif from the University of Chicago in 1999.

[8] From 2001 to 2003, Ho was an attorney at the United States Department of Justice, first in the Civil Rights Division in 2001 and then in the Office of Legal Counsel from 2001–2003.

[7] After his Supreme Court clerkship, Ho returned to private practice at Gibson Dunn in its Dallas office from 2006 to 2008 and 2010 to 2017.

[15] Ho has worked as a volunteer attorney with the First Liberty Institute, a religious legal advocacy organization.

He was nominated to the seat vacated by Judge Carolyn Dineen King, who assumed senior status on December 31, 2013.

[7] He was sworn in by Justice Clarence Thomas at the private library of Texan real estate billionaire and Republican donor Harlan Crow.

[32] Ho asked in the letter that the university should identify "students who engage in such conduct so that future employers can avoid hiring them.

"[33] Ho has been outspoken against illegal immigration, suggesting “a sovereign isn’t a sovereign if it can't control its borders” and that “[o]ur national objectives are undercut when states encourage illegal entry into the United States.”[34][35] He has stated that “[i]f only ‘the political branches of the federal government’ can decide if a state has been invaded, it effectively prohibits states from exercising their sovereign right of self-defense without federal permission.”[36] Ho has also defended the use of the term “alien,” arguing it should not be seen as offensive, noting that “[i]t’s a centuries-old legal term found in countless judicial decisions.”[37] On April 18, 2018, in his first written opinion as a Fifth Circuit judge, Ho dissented from a denial of a rehearing en banc in a case regarding a limit on campaign contributions.

The Fifth Circuit three-judge panel upheld the constitutionality of a City of Austin ordinance setting an individual campaign contribution limit of $350 per election for candidates for mayor and city council, rejecting the plaintiff's claim that the limit violated the First Amendment.

In his dissent, Ho argued the court "should have granted rehearing en banc and held that the Austin contribution limit violates the First Amendment" and asserted that "if there is too much money in politics, it's because there's too much government.

[41][42][43][44][45] On September 9, 2021, Ho authored the majority opinion for an en banc panel in Helix Energy Solutions Group, Inc. v. Hewitt, interpreting a provision of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938.

[47] Newton earned a Ph.D. in English from Rice University and served as a law clerk to Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.