posted on May 25, 2005 12:34:20 AM new
Alberto Gonzales v. Priscilla Owen
Alberto Gonzales’ criticism of Priscilla Owen on the Texas Supreme Court bench covers her right-wing judicial activism on a wide range of issues
As White House Counsel and spokesman for the Bush administration’s legal policy, Alberto Gonzales has, not surprisingly, defended the nomination of Texas Supreme Court Justice Priscilla Owen to the Fifth Circuit, claiming that she is "superbly qualified" and minimizing their differences when both served on the state supreme court. Measured by their opinions when they were both on the court, however, Gonzales’ view was very different just a few years ago.
Although they served together for a relatively short time in 1999-2000, Gonzales wrote or joined more than ten opinions sharply criticizing opinions written or joined by Owen on the court. In most of these cases, Gonzales, a strong conservative on the court, was part of the majority that rejected ultra-conservative Owen dissents as ignoring the plain meaning of the law or otherwise engaging in improper judicial activism to try to reach a particular result. In what could be a close vote by the Senate Judiciary Committee on Owen’s nomination, the decisive factor could be the concern that Owen has allowed her ideology to get in the way of her responsibilities as a judge.
"As a principal architect of the Bush administration’s legal policy, which seeks to turn back the clock on a range of civil rights, environmental, and reproductive rights achievements and to pack the federal judiciary with right-wing ideologues, Alberto Gonzales is now praising Priscilla Owen’s record as a judge," said People For the American Way President Ralph G. Neas. "But the best evidence for his opinion of her record as a Texas Supreme Court Justice is what he wrote during the time he served with her on that court. As a Texas Supreme Court Justice, Gonzales repeatedly wrote or joined criticism of Owen’s aggressive right-wing judicial activism. Time and again, Justice Owen attempted to remake the law when it clashed with her ideology. We urge members of the Senate Judiciary Committee to carefully review Owen’s record on the Texas Supreme Court and to reject her confirmation to the federal appeals court."
As illustrated by the specific examples below concerning reproductive choice, consumer rights, employee rights, environmental concerns, and other issues, Gonzales’ own written opinions demonstrate that, contrary to President Bush’s asserted objective, Owen would seek to make the law, not interpret it, from the federal bench.
posted on May 25, 2005 05:47:25 AM new
So someone can't change their minds about someone five years later? I thought that was the left's mantra, forgive and forget.
She needs to be confirmed and will be a good addition to the bench.
posted on May 25, 2005 09:03:55 AM new
If I am thinking of the same judge here, she is strictly by the book technical law interpreter.
At least that is how it was presented of her.
And that doesnt always work just in favor of conservatives you know.
posted on May 25, 2005 10:05:59 AM new
The important thing is that she and two others conservatives WILL be voted in. It's a WIN situation.
And yes, people change their minds after a few years. heck, kerry changed his positions almost daily.
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Four More Years....YES!!!
posted on May 25, 2005 11:06:00 AM new Priscilla R. Owen, nominated for the 5th Circuit Court
A strident opponent of reproductive rights, workers' rights, civil rights, consumers' rights and environmental protection.
Priscilla Owen hired Karl Rove to run her first campaign for the Texas Supreme Court, where she has served as a justice since 1995. Critics charge that her confirmation to the New Orleans-based 5th Circuit Court of Appeals will unduly favor the oil and gas industry she represented as a lawyer for the bulk of her legal career with Andrews & Kurth, for whom she worked from 1978 to 1994. Her opinions thus far on the Texas court suggest strident opposition to reproductive rights, workers' rights, civil rights, consumers' rights and environmental protection.
Of special note has been White House counsel Alberto Gonzales' criticism of Owen as trying to implement "an unconscionable act of judicial activism" when they served on the Texas Supreme Court together, for interpreting a parental-consent statute to please antiabortion interests. Owen has proposed a particular view that abortion law be interpreted with a "religious awareness" standard.
While working at Andrews & Kurth in Houston, Owens was involved repeatedly on behalf of oil, gas and other energy-industry clients -- who later became prime donors to her campaigns for the Texas Supreme Court. Texans for Public Justice, a legal watchdog group, reports that Owen favored donors to her judicial campaigns 85 percent of the time when they appeared before her in court.
Owens' hometown newspaper the Houston Chronicle has editorialized that Owen is "less interested in impartially interpreting the law than in pushing an agenda."
posted on May 25, 2005 11:31:22 AM new
"""A strident opponent of reproductive rights, workers' rights, civil rights, consumers' rights and environmental protection. """
