Senate Judicial Showdown to Focus on Justices Owen and Brown

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) has announced that this week’s Senate showdown on judicial confirmations will focus on two previously filibustered nominees to the federal appeals courts: Justice Priscilla Owen of Texas and Justice Janice Rogers Brown of California. Democrats have asserted that both are "extreme" and "outside of the mainstream." Read the profiles of these nominees below and decide for yourself.

Background on Justice Priscilla Owen

Justice Priscilla R. Owen was first nominated on May 9, 2001, by President George W. Bush to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. She is currently serving her second six-year term on the Supreme Court of Texas, to which she became only the second woman elected in 1994. In 2000, she was re-elected with 84% of the vote and with the endorsement of every major newspaper in the state.

At that time, the Houston Chronicle praised Justice Owen’s “proper balance of judicial experience, solid legal scholarship and real-world know-how.” The Dallas Morning News wrote Justice Owen “has brought impressive legal scope to the bench and has provided thoughtful opinions.”

After graduating at the top of her class from Baylor University Law School, Justice Owen earned the highest score in the state on the Fall 1977 Bar Examination. Prior to joining the Texas Supreme Court, she was a partner at the well-respected law firm of Andrews & Kurth, L.L.P. There, Justice Owen specialized in commercial litigation for 17 years, acquiring a significant amount of courtroom experience.

Justice Owen is a member of the American Law Institute, the American Judicature Society, the American Bar Association, and is a Fellow of the American and Houston Bar Associations. She has served as the liaison to the Supreme Court of Texas’ Court-Annexed Mediation Task Force and to statewide committees on providing pro bono legal services to the poor.

Justice Owen has tremendous bipartisan support to serve on the Fifth Circuit, including that of three former Democrat judges on the Texas Supreme Court and a bipartisan group of 15 past Presidents of the State Bar of Texas. The American Bar Association has unanimously rated her “well-qualified,” its highest rating.

The seat to which Justice Owen has been nominated has been designated a “judicial emergency” by the Judicial Conference of the United States.

EXPERIENCE

1995-Present:
Justice, Supreme Court of Texas
Supreme Court Liaison to the Texas Legal Services for the Poor
Special Committee and the Supreme Court Advisory Committee on Court-Annexed Mediations
Elected to a second term in 2000 with 84% of the vote

1978-1994:
Andrews & Kurth, LLP
Partner (1985-1994)
Associate (1978-1985)
Specialized in commercial litigation
Admitted to practice before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth, Fifth, Eighth and Eleventh Circuits

EDUCATION

Juris Doctorate, Baylor University School of Law, with honors, graduated first in her class, Baylor Law Review, 1977

Bachelor of Arts, Baylor University, graduated with honors, 1975

Background on Justice Janice Rogers Brown

Justice Janice Rogers Brown was first nominated on July 25, 2003, by President George W. Bush to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Since 1996, she has served as an Associate Justice on the California Supreme Court. Justice Brown is the first African-American woman to serve on California’s highest court to which she was re-elected in 1998 with 76% of the vote, the highest percentage of any justice on the ballot. In 2001 and 2002, the California Supreme Court’s Chief Justice called on Brown to write the majority opinion more times than any other justice on the court.

Justice Brown grew up the daughter of sharecroppers in segregated, rural Alabama. As a single mother, she worked her way through California State University-Sacramento and UCLA Law School.

Justice Brown has dedicated nearly her entire 26-year legal career to public service. Prior to joining the California Supreme Court, she served as an Associate Justice on the Third District Court of Appeals, an intermediate state appellate court. Before becoming a judge, Justice Brown was California Governor Pete Wilson’s Legal Affairs Secretary where she provided legal advice to the governor on litigation, legislation and policy matters. In addition, she worked as Deputy Secretary and General Counsel for the California Business, Transportation and Housing Agency and was a Deputy Attorney General in the Office of California Attorney General.

In addition to her legal career, Justice Brown has devoted much of her time to community service. She has served as a member of the California Commission on the Status of African-American Males, chaired by now-U.S. Representative Barbara Lee (D-CA). In addition, Justice Brown was a member of the Governor’s Child Support Task Force and served on the Community Learning Advisory Board of the Rio Americano High School.

Justice Brown enjoys tremendous bi-partisan support for her confirmation to the D.C. Circuit.

In an endorsement letter to the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, a bi-partisan group of 15 California law professors wrote, “Since we are of differing political beliefs and perspectives...we wish to especially emphasize what we believe is Justice Brown’s strongest credential for appointment to this important seat on the D.C. Circuit: her open-minded and thorough appraisal of legal argumentation -- even when her personal views may conflict with those arguments.”

Twelve of Justice Brown’s current and former colleagues, Democrats and Republicans, have written, “We believe that Justice Brown is qualified because she is a superb judge. We who have worked with her on a daily basis know her to be extremely intelligent, keenly analytical, and very hard-working. We know that she is a jurist who applies the law without favor, without bias, and with an even hand.”

In addition to her J.D. from UCLA, Justice Brown has also received honorary law degrees from Pepperdine University Law School, Catholic University School of Law and Southwestern University School of Law.

EXPERIENCE

1996 - Present: Associate Justice, California Supreme Court
1998 - 1999: Adjunct Professor, University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law
1994 - 1996: Associate Justice, California Court of Appeals for the Third District
1991 - 1994: Legal Affairs Secretary, California Governor Pete Wilson
1990 - 1991: Senior Associate, Nielsen, Merksamer, Parinello, Mueller & Naylor
1987 - 1990: Deputy Secretary & General Counsel, California Business, Transportation & Housing Agency
1979 - 1987: Deputy Attorney General, California Department of Justice, Office of California Attorney General

MILITARY

1977 - 1979: Deputy Legislative Counsel, Legislative Counsel Bureau

EDUCATION

Juris Doctorate, University of California School of Law, 1977

Bachelor of Arts, California State University, 1975

CFIF Launches Ad Campaign on Judicial Nominees
Constitutional Advocacy Group Tells Senate Obstructionists, ‘It’s Time to Vote!’

Alexandria, VA -- As the Senate this week begins its long anticipated debate on ending the filibusters against President Bush’s judicial nominees, the Center for Individual Freedom today announced an ad campaign urging an end to the Democrats’ obstruction and calling for fair up-or-down votes on the nominations.

The full page ad, which is running in tomorrow’s edition of the Capitol Hill newspaper The Hill, features a clock face displaying the photos of all 12 nominees whose confirmations are being obstructed by filibuster or other procedural means. Each nominee’s photo is affixed with a caption displaying the shocking number of days each has been waiting for a fair up-or-down vote. The ad reads: “TIME’S UP … IT’S TIME TO VOTE!...” more

View the ad here.

Help CFIF expand its ad campaign!

Reading List

Nuclear? No, Restoration
By Charles Krauthammer, Washington Post

Byrd's the word
Washington Times Editorial

Four Democratic Myths About Confirming Judges
By C. Boyden Gray, Committee for Justice

Myths of the Judge Wars
By Arnold Ahlert, New York Post

Harry Reid, below the belt
Washington Times Editorial

'Dirty Harry' Reid: The art of the smear
By David Reinhard, The Oregonian

Time to Vote on Justice Owen
Washington Times Editorial