Alberto Gonzales v. Priscilla Owen

[On the Road]

Alberto Gonzales v. Priscilla Owen
For Immediate Release: 7/22/2002
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 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.

Gonzales opinions criticizing Owen dissents on reproductive rights In re Jane Doe 1(II), 19 S.W.3d 346 (Tex. 2000)...In fact, Gonzales specifically wrote that adopting the dissenters’ narrow view "would be an unconscionable act of judicial activism." Id. at 366 (emphasis added).

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http://www.pfaw.org/pfaw/general/default.aspx?oid=1726

Priscilla Owens or Janice Rogers-Brown are my deepest fears for the nomination. Especially considering the angle of replacing O'Connor with another female justice.

[Fovea]

1. Screw the compromise

Filibuster now!

If they break the filibuster, when we take back congress in 06 and the whitehouse in 08, we will screw them hard.