WASHINGTON, May 26, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The US Senate confirmed US President George W. Bush’s nomination of Justice Priscilla Owen Wednesday.
“I applaud the Senate for voting to confirm Justice Priscilla Owen,” the president said in a White House press release. “She has served with distinction on the Supreme Court of Texas, has demonstrated that she strictly interprets the law, and brings a wealth of experience and expertise to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. I urge the Senate to build on this progress and provide my judicial nominees the up or down votes they deserve.”
Owen’s confirmation follows a long period of filibuster by Democrats in the Senate. Democrats have continually blocked the vote on Bush nominees because of opposition to the conservative values held by many. Owen’s confirmation passed by a vote of 56-43.
“Finally, this extraordinarily qualified judge achieves what should have been hers four years ago,” said Jan LaRue, Concerned Women for America’s chief counsel. “Justice Owen’s confirmation vote, like those of other pending nominees, should not have been blocked by phony filibusters.”
LaRue condemned the actions of a handful of Republican Senators who opposed the majority of Republicans in the Senate by signing a compromise agreement rather than banning the filibuster practice outright – including Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R-Rhode Island), among others. “If the seven Republican sell-outs had stood with their majority leader, Sen. Bill Frist, instead of agreeing to a compromise that doesn’t have the shelf-life of a Twinkie, the filibustering of judges would have ended,” LaRue explained. “The fact that the Democrats finally agreed to give Owen, Janice Rogers Brown and Bill Pryor an up-or-down vote, knowing that she and they will be confirmed, exposes the Democrats’ vicious and deceitful attacks on these nominees as a total sham.”
According to an AP report, Democrats had filibustered Owen’s nomination four times. On Monday, Democratic Senators agreed to a compromise, voting to end the four-year deadlock. Seven Republicans and seven Democrats colluded to end the current filibustering in exchange for a so-called compromise – the continued right to reserve the measure for the vaguely defined condition of “extraordinary circumstances.”
Senate majority leader Bill Frist described the use of filibustering tactics as “a new and dangerous course . . . a power grab of unprecedented proportions.” He regretted that the compromise meant a failure by Republican Senators to permanently end the minority filibuster of judicial nominations.
Owen acted as a judge for the Texas Supreme Court since 1994, and was among a group of 10 of President Bush’s first nominations. She will join judges at the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans.
See AP coverage here.
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