Priscilla Richman

Priscilla R. Owen

Priscilla Richman Owen (born October 4, 1954) is a federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. She was previously a Justice on the Texas Supreme Court. Owen was born in Palacios, Texas.

Early career

Prior to her election to the Texas Supreme Court in 1994, Owen was a partner in the Houston office of Andrews & Kurth L.L.P. where she practiced commercial litigation for seventeen years. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree, cum laude, from Baylor University, and graduated in the top of her class from Baylor University Law School in 1977, receiving a Juris Doctor degree, cum laude. She was a member of the Baylor Law Review. Owen also received the highest score on the Texas Bar examination for that year.

In private practice, Owen handled a broad range of civil matters at the trial and appellate levels. She was admitted to practice before various state and federal trial courts and appellate courts. She is a member of the American Law Institute, the American Judicature Society, the American Bar Association, and a Fellow of the American and Houston Bar Foundations.

Owen served as the liaison to the Supreme Court of Texas’ Court-Annexed Mediation Task Force and to statewide committees regarding legal services to the poor and pro bono legal services. She was part of a committee that successfully encouraged the Texas Legislature to enact legislation that has resulted in millions of dollars per year in additional funds for providers of legal services to the poor. Owen also serves as a member of the board of the A.A. White Dispute Resolution Institute and is on the boards of advisors of the Houston and Austin Chapters of the Federalist Society. Owen was instrumental in organizing a group known as Family Law 2000 that seeks to find ways to educate parents about the effect that divorce can have on their children and to lessen the adversarial nature of legal proceedings when a marriage is dissolved.

Federal nomination and filibuster

In 2001, Owen was nominated by President George W. Bush to her current post on a federal appellate court that hears appeals arising in several states, including Owen's home state of Texas. However, due to Senate disagreement over the issue of appointees considered to be too conservative, Democrats (who controlled the U.S. Senate at the time) did not let her come up for a vote. In 2003, after Republicans had taken the Senate back, Democrats filibustered her. Only in 2005, after Republicans picked up four more seats in the Senate did she again come up for a vote.

Support

In the view of supporters, Priscilla Owen had considerable judicial experience as a member of the Texas Supreme Court, and had been rated "well-qualified" by the American Bar Association for the Fifth Circuit position. According to ABC News reporter and conservative favorite Jan Crawford Greenburg, Senate Democrats strategically "targeted almost all of President Bush’s women and minority appellate court picks—anyone who could be a possible Supreme Court nominee." Supporters of the Owen nomination asserted that her criticized rulings were often near-unanimous, or simply followed federal precedents.

Opposition

Opponents criticized Owen for what they claimed were her hard-right positions on contentious social and economic issues, and pro-corporate decisions. Democratic Senator Edward Kennedy said that Bush's appointee as Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales, during his service with Owen on the Texas Supreme Court had frequently criticized Owen; Gonzales argued, said Kennedy, that one of Owen's positions taken in dissent would "judicially amend" a statute for the benefit of manufacturers selling defective products. On abortion, Owen was criticized for upholding Texas's parental-notification law, and for joining a majority decision on overrides only once.

Gang of 14 and the Supreme Court

Democratic Party senators had filibustered her nomination until May 2005 when a compromise was arranged by the "Gang of 14," which was a group of moderate senators from both the Republican and Democratic Parties. On May 24, 2005 debate on her nomination was ended by a vote of 81-18. She was finally confirmed by a vote of 55-43 on May 25, 2005 and was sworn in on June 6, 2005.

She was often cited as a potential Bush Supreme Court nominee for the O'Connor vacancy. On September 17 of 2005, Minority Leader Harry Reid informed Majority Leader Bill Frist that Owen would be filibustered if she were nominated for the Supreme Court seat of retiring Justice O'Connor, but Frist believed that Owen could be confirmed in the face of a filibuster. President Bush nominated Harriet Miers and then Samuel Alito to fill the Justice O'Connor vacancy.

Attribution

Some of the material on this page is taken from the website of the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Legal Policy. As a product of the United States government, this material is in the public domain.

External links

• Judge Owen's DOJ Biography
• Judge Owen's Official Federal Judicial Center Biography
• Priscilla Owen's political donations
• Owen article from Baylor Alumni Association (2006-01-10).
• Owen confirmation hearing (pdf) (2003-03-13).
• Owen confirmation hearing (txt) (2003-03-13).
• Owen profile from the Supreme Court Nomination Blog (via archive.org).

Supporting Confirmation to Fifth Circuit:

• Column by Sen. John Cornyn.
• C. Boyden Gray praises Owen as "Restrained, Principled Jurist”.
• National Review piece by Greg Abbott calls Democrats' attack on Judge Owen "dishonest".
• Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison speech in favor of Owen.

Opposing Confirmation to Fifth Circuit:

• Save our Courts - Justice Priscilla Owen's Judicial Record
• Alliance for Justice criticizes Owen.
• National Organization for Women weighs in against Owen.
• PFAW argues that the Senate Judiciary Committee was right to vote down Judge Owen's nomination in 2002.