After 4 Years, Owen Gets Confirmation Vote

[AlGore-08.com]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5030567,00.html

By JIM ABRAMS

Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - The filibuster fight over for now, the Senate finally is ready to confirm Priscilla Owen as a federal judge, ending a four-year effort by Democrats to derail one of President Bush's prime judicial nominees.

(snip)

``This is merely a truce, it is not a treaty yet,'' said Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, who with Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., had advocated a new procedure that would have deprived the minority of the filibuster to block judicial nominations. ``An awful lot depends on good faith.''

(snip)

Several Republican signers said the deal would survive only if Democrats abided by that vague condition. ``The fact that you are a conservative is no longer an extraordinary circumstance,'' said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.

(More... )

[gratuitous]

1. Ronnie White and Richard Paez continue to wait . . .

Those precious, precious up-or-down confirmation votes will never come for some.

[CityDem]

14. Paez was approved by the senate

Paez is on the 9th circuit -- it took him over 4 years to get there.

[chelsea0011]

2. CNN had me on the floor laughing

the reporter said it is not expected to be unanimous. No Sh$#.

[orpupilofnature57]

3. Conservatives look like Liberals in this neo-con mania, thanks ? %

[mtnester]

4. "The fact that you are a conservative is no longer an extraordinary..

circumstance"

THIS is what we lost, along with respect. Not only do their nominees get in, they get a clear path to SCOTUS, and conditions placed on filibusters.

And the Dems got what in the compromise?

Nothing. We did not even get a ROCK

[NewYorkerfromMass]

5. There is no clear path to SCOTUS, no deal made on that

You have got it wrong.
The deal killed any "nuclear option" vote and only agreed on a vote for 3 nominees for these lower courts ONLY.
SCOTUS would be a completely new ball game altogether.

[mtnester]

10. I am just looking at it like a 5th grader based on the quote from the

article I had in my subject line...to paraphrase...being a conservative is not an extraordinary circumstance.

The current argument on Owen on how terrible she is, if this does not qualify, and we roll over and show our soft underbelly, using 5th grade logic, if we did not fight to prevent her NOW, then we should have no argument to her later. THAT is how it will be spun, and THAT is how the American sheeple will interpret it. Also combined with the fact that deal breaker Frist will use the nuclear option anyway, we now land with these judges in for life, no public fisticuffs over it, and stymied to do anything about it based on our end of the deal, which of COURSE, we will be held to desipte anything the other side of the aisle does.

All of that adds right up to a clear path.

[CityDem]

16. Not quite

Graham and Dewine have stated the following:

1. The nuclear option is on the table if the dems filibuster someone who does not qualify as extraordinary circumstances. Graham has stated that ideology is no longer a criteria so kooks like Brown and Owen will sail through unless they have a record as a pedophile.

2. All pending nominees will either get votes on the floor of the senate or will be disposed of in committee. Translation -- an agreement was made within the group of 14 to vote against Saad in the judiciary committee or have his name withdrawn. Same with Myers.

3. All other nominees will go to the senate floor for votes and will most likely be approved. This includes Bret Kavenaugh who worked with Ken Starr on the Clinton matter.

4. If ideology is off the table for consideration, any SCOTUS nominee left of Hitler will get an up or down vote. Bush will replace Rehnquist with another conservative, but this deal may fall apart when O'Connor retires.

[LibDemAlways]

6. How this can be spun as anything other than

a repuke victory is beyond me. They get to put neanderthals on the bench. They reserve the right to use the "nuclear," or as they are now calling it, "constitutional" option. We supposedly get to keep the filibuster as long as we don't use it.

You are right. We got zip.

[sadiesworld]

12. Additionally, hasn't the nuclear option actually been legitimized?

It wasn't even clear whether such a manuever was legal before yesterday and it was certainly considered revolutionary. Now? :shrug:

(credit to another poster for this, I forgot who)

[Zeebo]

9. Exactly! Also, because the new standard of acceptable nominees includes

are judges like Rogers Brown and Owen, we are screwed. They can nominate anyone similar to these right wingers and say "Brown and Owen weren't extraordinary circumstances." You CAN'T filibuster so-and-so.

This blows big time.

[RaleighNCDUer]

7. I would love it if a handful of responsible republicans voted with

the dems and shot her down.

But that would be predicated on there being a handful of responsible republicans left in the Senate.

[Zorra]

8. Owen is not a "conservative". She has been groomed by fascists

such as Karl Rove to help them permanently destroy Democracy in the US.

May God help us all when she is appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

[cascadiance]

11. You know, perhaps one thing we *can* do in this situation...

would be to get the blogs to band together and eyeball these three new judges' decisions in their new positions *like a hawk*!

Point out every flaw, every piece of judicial activism, etc. and try to get the word out to as many people as possible what the cost of letting Bush ram his appointments through really is, and why he and the Rethugs need to be shut down. If there are court decisions that the nation solidly disagrees with that are being rendered by these justices that should have and would normally have been rejected, then perhaps the rest of the country can see why Bush and this Rethuglican majority are bad for this country and why we need to completely change gears in congress in 2006.

If they are aware of them being watched and don't do anything extreme, then at least we're protecting those being affected by their decisions from getting screwed in the short term. Long term we may need to keep an eye on them still as a reminder of why we need to keep the Rethuglicans at bay, even if we take back congress in 2006, at least through to 2008!

[Gloria]

13. How old is Owens? Any chance of her getting one of those

"deterioration from age" diseases???

[Julius Civitatus]

15. Geeeez! I don't know how much "victory" I can take

Seriously.

Reid and the rest came out telling us what a great "victory" it was their agreement on the filibuster.

In a single day they are confirming Priscilla "Enron" Owen, then allowing Bolton to slide in, and then letting the repugs to get their ducks in a row to the Supreme Court.

Bring out the champagne, cause we are oh so victorious!

:sarcasm:

[Democrats_win]

17. Owens: against injured workers, consumers, environment & right to choose

http://saveourcourts.civilrights.org/nominees/details.cfm?id=13270

--snip
General Information.
Anchoring the far-right end of a very conservative court, Priscilla Owen consistently supports big business and special interests against the claims of ordinary Americans. Before joining the court, Owen was a partner at the Houston firm Andrews & Kurth, where she represented primarily large corporations, including oil and pipeline interests. On the Texas Supreme Court, she has tended to distort or rewrite the law to reach desired results, voting consistently to dismiss the claims of injured workers and consumers and citizens wishing to protect the environment. In addition, prior to her nomination to the Fifth Circuit, she never voted to grant a minor a judicial bypass under Texas’ Parental Notification Statute. The Houston Chronicle wrote that her “interpretations were generally stricter and more conservative than the majority of her all-Republican colleagues” on the court. Indeed, White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales, then a fellow Justice, called one of her dissents in a bypass case “an unconscionable act of judicial activism.”1

Owen is also notoriously slow at issuing opinions and has reportedly had cases taken away from her because of her backlog. Finally, the decision to renominate Owen, after her rejection by the Senate Judiciary Committee, is indicative of a strategy on the part of Bush and his advisor Karl Rove to pack the federal judiciary with right-wing judges who are prepared to implement the administration’s anti-choice, pro-corporate, and anti-environment domestic agenda.

[kskiska]

18. I don't believe that any judge should have a lifetime position

Back in the time of the Founding Fathers, only wise elders were likely to be appointed to the bench, and a lifetime tenure wasn't all that long.