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Bush attorney general calls owens rulings judicial activism { May 26 2005 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.gopusa.com/news/2005/may/0526_owen_confirmed.shtmlhttp://www.gopusa.com/news/2005/may/0526_owen_confirmed.shtml
Senate Confirms Priscilla Owen
By Melanie Hunter
CNSNews.com Deputy Managing Editor
May 26, 2005
(2nd Add: Includes comments from Planned Parenthood Federation of America, NARAL Pro-Choice America, and Leadership Conference on Civil Rights.)
(CNSNews.com) -- In a vote of 56 to 43, the nomination of Priscilla Owen to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals was approved by the full Senate Wednesday.
Conservatives praised Owen's confirmation. "I will say that this is a long time coming. I don't know that anyone has waited four years to come to a successful conclusion," said Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson (R-Texas) in a press conference following the vote.
"I will just say that I think she has shown absolute integrity, commitment, patience and above all judicial demeanor through this process. I commend her for it. This is her day, and it is well deserved," she added.
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and a former colleague of Justice Owen on the Texas Supreme Court, said in a statement "the heated rhetoric, unfounded attacks, and distortions" of her "record over the past four years ended with a whimper."
"The sky did not fall when the clerk called the roll; the earth did not stop rotating on its axis when we stood up and voted. A supremely qualified nominee received the up-or-down vote she deserved, and a bipartisan majority voted to confirm her nomination," said Cornyn, who added that the vote is "something we could have done four years ago."
"And it should be well settled now that disagreement over judicial philosophy is not an 'extraordinary circumstance,' and thus no justification whatsoever for violating Senate traditions and imposing supermajority voting requirements," said Cornyn. "I call it the 'Owen precedent.'
"Under the precedent set today, debates over judicial philosophy and disagreements about past rulings are not justification for the use of a filibuster. That is exactly what this week's agreement should be understood to say," said Cornyn.
"It's a very good day when you confirm someone of her quality to serve at the highest levels of the judiciary," said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who added that the criticism against Owen "was politically manufactured opposition."
Liberals criticized Owen's confirmation.
Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who voted against Owen, criticized her "extreme ideological approach to the law."
"Justice Owen is squarely outside of the mainstream on issues of health and reproductive freedom," said Karen Pearl, interim president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America.
"She has a shameful record of placing harsh burdens on teens seeking judicial bypass, even blocking access to abortion care for those who fear that physical abuse would result if their parents became aware of their pregnancy," Pearl said.
"These are not abstract legal issues to millions of women across the country; they are an intrusion into their private, personal decisions," added Pearl.
"The same Senate that yesterday celebrated a compromise by 'moderate members from both parties' to avert the nuclear option has given a lifetime job to a serial judicial activist from Texas," said Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America.
"Priscilla Owen's radical practice of putting her personal beliefs ahead of the law and individual rights now gets a greater pool of potential victims. Even President Bush's own attorney general, Alberto Gonzales, criticized Owen's rulings as 'an unconscionable act of judicial activism,'" said Keenan.
"In fact, Gonzales also has expressly criticized Owen's legal conclusions in at least 10 published opinions related to cases beyond reproductive rights issues. Opposition to Owen is strong in the pro-choice community, but we are not alone," Keenan added.
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