Help needed- the judges in question.

[NJmaverick]

Anyone have a profile of bush's judges he wants to nominate? I am debating the issue and would like to know more about the judges that are being nominated and why they are objectionable.

[NJmaverick]

1. A help is neede

bump I would really like to win this debate with a freeper.

[bluedog]

2. I have a ?

with the republicans spouting the high percentage points these 2 judges got...a caller on C-Span asked...who did they run against or......were they the only one on the ballot...anybody know?

[Avalux]

4. I know Brown did not have an opponent - Owen not much of one

here's an interesting little tidbit from the Austin Chronicle, right before the 2000 election. Frist lied when he said every Texas newspaper endorsed her:

Supreme Court Justice, Place 2: No Endorsement

The all-Republican Supreme Court, as Mark Currinden has reported in The Dallas Morning News, is one of the most aggressive, activist, anti-plaintiff courts in the nation. Even if the Democrats or Greens can't field candidates for the court, we can't in good conscience endorse a Republican. Incumbent Priscilla Owen will have to win without our endorsement. She is opposed by Libertarian Joe Alfred Izen Jr.
http://www.austinchronicle.com/election/endorsements.html

[GreenPartyVoter]

3. You can do a search at

http://www.commondreams.org/ and pull up lots of articles on the subject. :)

[moobu2]

5. Here's a little

Priscilla Owen

Nominated to the United States Court of Appeals, 5th Circuit. Currently an Associate Justice on the Texas Supreme Court. On May 8, 2003, the Senate rejected (52-45) a second cloture motion on Owen's nomination. (Sixty votes are required to invoke cloture and end debate on the nomination.)

Has been criticized as being on the "far right wing" of the Texas court, further to the right than Bush's own appointees to that court when he was governor.

Supported the elimination and narrowing of buffer zones around reproductive health care clinics in Houston.

In every judicial bypass case that came before the Texas Supreme Court last spring (bypass allows a young woman to obtain an abortion without notifying her parents if she proves her maturity to a judge), Owen voted against granting the young woman a bypass.

Supports "stricter interpretation" of the state law that Bush signed requiring girls younger than 18 to inform their parents before obtaining an abortion.

Member of the board of the Houston Chapter of the Federalist Society, an ultra-conservative legal organization.

Enron's political action committee gave Owen $8,600 for her successful Supreme Court bid in 1994. Two years later, Owen wrote the majority opinion that reversed a lower court order and reduced Enron's school taxes by $15 million. Since 1993, Enron contributed $134,058 — more than any other corporation — to Owen and other members of the Texas Supreme Court. A study by Texans for Public Justice found that the court ruled in Enron's favor in five out of six cases involving the company since 1993.
NOW.org

Janice Brown

Nominated to the United States Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit. Currently

Brown is infamous for her 2000 decision in Hi-Voltage Wire Works Inc. v. City of San Jose, 24 Cal. 4th 537 (2000), which upheld California's voter-approved initiative, Prop. 209, which bans preferential treatment for women and minorities in public contracts, hiring and college admissions. Brown's 18-page opinion attacking not only the facts of the case but also affirmative action in general made her very popular among the Republican Right.

Her controversial dissents go beyond legal reasoning and straight into political diatribe. In American Academy of Pediatrics v. Lungren, 16 Cal. 4th 307 (1997), Brown wrote a lengthy dissent calling the court's decision to strike down parental consent "an excellent example of the folly of courts in the role of philosopher kings."

Ignoring gross attorney errors and the defendant's brutal childhood to uphold a death sentence, Brown's opinion was noted by the dissent as "clinically cold." In re Andrews, 28 Cal. 4th 1234 (2002).

Brown finds for special interests in majority of free speech cases.

Participates in many invitation-only private "seminars" thrown by ultra-right wing organizations such as the Liberty Fund and John M. Olin Foundation. Attending such events, at the very least, contributes to an appearance of impropriety and, at worst, may influence judges and affect the outcomes of cases.

Brown was the first California Supreme Court Justice to receive an unqualified rating from the state bar and still be nominated by a governor, in this case Gov. Pete Wilson. Three-fourths of state bar evaluators felt Brown was ill-equipped to hold the position. Complaints filed by her peers called her "insensitive to established legal precedent…and lacked compassion and intellectual tolerance for opposing views."
NOW.org

[NJmaverick]

6. Thank you that helped

At least I have something to say about two of them. The freeper pulled some sort of "fact" that ALL of bush's nominees were ABA approved. I needed some ammo.

[bluedog]

7. found owens opponent

Supreme Court Justice pct 2: Priscilla Owens-r 72%, Joe Alford Eisen-l 28%

http://tspweb02.tsp.utexas.edu/webarchive/11-08-00/localresults.html


ran google on him and can't find much.......




seems janice brown had no opponent....this from 98

SUPREME COURT
ASSOCIATE JUSTICE

COMPLETE PRECINCTS: 261/ 261
INCOMPLETE PRECINCTS: 0

Janice R Brown YES.....45,048 78.9%
NO......12,038 21.1%

http://www.co.santa-cruz.ca.us/ele/nov98rs.htm

[napi21]

8. I know you can watch the hearings on each judge on cspan.

Just go to www.c-span.org and I believe the link to judicial nominations is on the menu on the left.