Owen deserves a vote but not a confirmation
Austin-American Statesman Editorial
Apr 29, 2003

The U.S. Senate is expected to resume debate soon over President Bush's nomination of Texas Supreme Court Justice Priscilla Owen to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which hears federal appeals from Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi. We have argued before that she deserved a hearing, and she finally got one from the Senate Judiciary Committee. That said, however, she should not be confirmed.

There's no question that Owen is qualified for the 5th Circuit by her legal training and experience. She was a standout at the top of her Baylor University Law School class; she became a partner at a major Houston law firm, Andrews & Kurth, where she practiced commercial litigation for 17 years; and she was elected in 1994 to the Texas Supreme Court, and re-elected in 2000. She received the highest rating, "well-qualified," from an American Bar Association committee that reviews judicial nominations. But Owen is so conservative that she places herself out of the broad mainstream of jurisprudence. She seems all too willing to bend the law to fit her views, rather than the reverse.

One example was the state Supreme Court's interpretation of the then-new Parental Notification Act regarding abortions sought by minors. In early 2000, the nine justices, all Republicans, took up a series of "Jane Doe" cases to determine under what cir stances a girl could get a court order to avoid telling a parent that she intended to get an abortion. Owen and Justice Nathan Hecht consistently argued for interpretations of the law that would make it virtually impossible for a girl to get such an order.

Finally, in one Jane Doe case, another justice complained that "to construe the Parental Notification Act so narrowly as to eliminate bypasses, or to create hurdles that simply are not to be found in the words of the statute, would be an unconscionable act of judicial activism."

The justice who wrote that was Alberto Gonzales, who is now Bush's general counsel.

Owen also could usually be counted upon in any important case that pitted an individual or group of individuals against business interests to side with business.
<more>Independent Judiciary

Priscilla Owens Bar Assoc ratings published this morning and she had the worst over all rating for members of the Texas Supreme Court. I couldn't attach the pdf file so follow the link, select the poll and then the supreme court for details on the questions and votes.

hba.org

I wonder if anyone in the Senate reads this stuff?