The Senate should use a filibuster to block the re-nomination of Priscilla Owen, a far-right ideologue who is part of President Bush’s plan to pack the court with reactionary judges, the New York Times editorial page stated today. Owen, currently a justice on the Texas Supreme Court, has been nominated to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals for the second time. Last year she was rejected by the Democratic-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee for her consistently anti-women’s rights, anti-workers’ rights rulings.
“The filibuster is not a tool to be used lightly,” the Times wrote. “But the Senate has been right to use it against the nomination of Miguel Estrada, who is hiding his views on legal issues. It should do the same to stop the once-rejected Judge Owen, and tell extreme conservatives in the Bush administration to stop trying to hijack the federal judiciary.”
In addition to her rulings against women and minorities, Owen has consistently voted against reproductive rights; in every abortion-related opinion prior to her nomination Owen voted against abortion rights. In one ruling, Owen recommended that a teenager seeking judicial bypass of parental notification for an abortion show that she understood the religious considerations of her decision. Owen’s opinions also show a consistent hostility toward employee rights and discrimination protections, public information rights, environmental protection and consumer and citizen rights.
TAKE ACTION Urge your Senators to oppose the nominations of Jeffrey Sutton and Priscilla Owen
Thank your Senators for their vote on the Fourth Cloture Motion and continuing to sustain the filibuster of Miguel Estrada
