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Priscilla Owen
Nominated to the United States Court of Appeals, 5th Circuit. Currently an Associate Justice on the Texas Supreme Court. On May 8, 2003, the Senate rejected (52-45) a second cloture motion on Owen's nomination. (Sixty votes are required to invoke cloture and end debate on the nomination.)
- Has been criticized as being on the "far right wing" of the Texas court, further to the right than Bush's own appointees to that court when he was governor.
- Supported the elimination and narrowing of buffer zones around reproductive health care clinics in Houston.
- In every judicial bypass case that came before the Texas Supreme Court last spring (bypass allows a young woman to obtain an abortion without notifying her parents if she proves her maturity to a judge), Owen voted against granting the young woman a bypass.
- Supports "stricter interpretation" of the state law that Bush signed requiring girls younger than 18 to inform their parents before obtaining an abortion.
- Member of the board of the Houston Chapter of the Federalist Society, an ultra-conservative legal organization.
- Enron's political action committee gave Owen $8,600 for her successful Supreme Court bid in 1994. Two years later, Owen wrote the majority opinion that reversed a lower court order and reduced Enron's school taxes by $15 million. Since 1993, Enron contributed $134,058 — more than any other corporation — to Owen and other members of the Texas Supreme Court. A study by Texans for Public Justice found that the court ruled in Enron's favor in five out of six cases involving the company since 1993.
Sources:
Texans for Public Justice, "Bush's Judicial Intent: Fake Moderate, Veer Right," 5/10/01
Operation Rescue-National v. Planned Parenthood of Houston and Southeast Texas, 975 S.W. 2d 546 (1998)
NARAL citing: In re Jane Doe 1 (19 SW.3d 346, 2000), In re Jane Doe 4 (19 SW 3d 322, 2000)
Dallas Morning News, 5/9/01
New York Times, 1/22/02
Updated 11/17/03
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