Senate Confirms Judicial Nominee Owen; Abortion-Rights Issue Central to Controversy Over Nominee, USA

Main Category: Abortion
Article Date: 27 May 2005 - 10:00 PDT

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The Senate on Wednesday voted 55-43 primarily along party lines to confirm Texas Supreme Court Justice Priscilla Owen to a seat on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans after Senate Democrats for four years blocked a vote on her nomination in part because of her record on abortion rights, USA Today reports (Biskupic, USA Today, 5/26). Most notable in the debate over Owen's nomination were her dissents from rulings interpreting Texas' law permitting a teenager to obtain an abortion without parental notification if she can demonstrate to a court that she is mature enough to understand the consequences of the procedure. Owen wrote in one dissent that the teen requesting judicial bypass did not demonstrate that she was aware that there are religious objections to abortion and that some women who undergo abortion experience severe remorse (Kaiser Daily Reproductive Health Report, 5/16). Senate Democrats said Owen has "repeatedly interjected her own personal opinions in her judgments -- rather than interpret the laws -- in cases involving abortion rights," according to the Washington Post (Faler, Washington Post, 5/26). Although the 5th Circuit Court -- where Owen now sits -- has a "conservative reputation," in recent years it has followed U.S. Supreme Court precedent on abortion rights, including striking down a Louisiana law banning so-called "partial-birth" abortion after the Supreme Court voided a similar Nebraska law in 2000 (USA Today, 5/26). Owen was the first judicial nominee to benefit from a bipartisan deal struck this week between 14 senators that will allow votes on Owen and two other previously blocked nominees, California Supreme Court Justice Janice Rogers Brown for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia and former Alabama Attorney General William Pryor (R) for the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, according to the New York Times. In exchange for allowing the votes, Senate Democrats retained the right to filibuster judicial nominees in the future (Hulse, New York Times, 5/26).

"Reprinted with permission from kaisernetwork.org kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Reproductive Health Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/repro The Kaiser Daily Reproductive Health Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . © 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

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