THREE NOMINEES UP FOR VOTES Republicans said they will seek “cloture” votes to move to a confirmation vote on three nominees Friday. The nominees are:
Priscilla Owen, a Texas Supreme Court justice nominated by Bush to serve on the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
Carolyn Kuhl, whom Bush wants to elevate from a federal trial judge to the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in California.
California Supreme Court Justice Janice Rogers Brown, Bush’s nominee to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
http://www.msnbc.com/news/992320.asp?0cv=CB10Here are some liberal views on the nominees:
Background: Janice Rodgers BrownSince taking office, President Bush has nominated more than 40 people to federal appeals courts – many of whom have appeared hostile to privacy rights. His latest nominee, California Supreme Court Justice Janice Rogers Brown demonstrated her opposition to a woman’s right to privacy when she wrote a caustic dissent to a California Supreme Court’s ruling that a California parental consent law with respect to abortion violated the state constitution’s right to privacy. (American Academy of Pediatrics v. Lungren, 16 Cal.4th 307 (1997))
http://www.prochoiceamerica.org/about/newsroom/pressrelease/pr20030730_rogersbrown.cfmCarolyn Kuhl
Take Action: Stand Up for Women's Rights: Protest All Judicial Nominees Who Do Not Support Women's and Civil Rights (11/03)
Nominated to the United States Court of Appeals, 9th Circuit. Currently a Los Angeles Superior Court judge. While at the Justice Department, Kuhl was instrumental in persuading the Reagan administration to support the tax exempt status of Bob Jones University which had been revoked because of racially discriminatory policies.
Co-authored the government's brief in Thornburgh v. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists which fought for the "outright reversal of Roe." She argued that the Roe decision was "flawed."
Fought for the gag rule and parental notification for young women. She has also fought for detailed intrusive reporting requirements which forced women to disclose personal information such as the date of their last menstrual cycle, their race, marital status and where they lived.
Member of the Federalist Society, an ultra-conservative legal organization.
Wrote a brief in 1990 on behalf of the American Academy of Medical Ethics in which she argued that prohibiting doctors who receive federal funds from discussing abortion did not violate First Amendment guarantees of free speech.
Kuhl dismissed a patient's argument that a doctor had violated her privacy by allowing a pharmaceutical salesman to be in the room while conducting a breast cancer evaluation in Sanchez-Scott v. Alza Pharmaceuticals, a decision that was immediately overturned on appeal.
She refused to hear a case filed by a whistleblower about falsification of documents and destruction of medical records in Moore v. Hong Liu, ignoring California's free-speech laws.
Kuhl also represented Shell Oil, defending the company against having to pay for cleanup of contaminated land.
http://www.now.org/issues/legislat/nominees/kuhl.htmlPriscilla Owen
Nominees to important life-time positions must demonstrate that they have a commitment to open-minded decision-making and to fundamental constitutional and civil rights. Yet, Texas Supreme Court Justice Priscilla Owen’s record shows that she often seeks to remake the law in a manner that would harm the interests of ordinary Americans. President Bush's own White House counsel, Alberto Gonzalez, who served on the Texas Supreme Court with Owen, described the dissenters in one case, including Owen, as engaging in "an unconscionable act of judicial activism." These concerns caused the Senate Judiciary Committee to reject Owen’s confirmation to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in September 2002, but President Bush has re-nominated her.
Owen’s record shows:
In many cases concerning reproductive rights decided by the Texas Supreme Court during her tenure, Justice Owen has sought to restrict a woman's right to choose. In her dissenting opinions in a series of cases concerning parental notification for minors seeking abortions, Owen has even attempted to rewrite Texas' parental notification law, adding new criteria and erecting additional barriers.
Owen has dissented in a number of cases affecting workers' rights, embracing opinions that would make it more difficult for employees to prove discrimination claims or receive compensation for on-the-job injuries. In one discrimination case, Owen argued for an interpretation of Texas civil rights law that would have effectively changed the law, in certain cases forcing employees to prove that discrimination was not just "a motivating factor", as the law states, but the only motivating factor for a firing or other adverse job action.
Owen has dissented from majority rulings that protected the environment. In one instance, Owen dissented in a case in which the court invalidated a law tailored to exempt a specific land developer from water quality rules. The conservative majority dismissed Owen's dissent, declaring that most of it was "nothing more than inflammatory rhetoric". This was one of numerous cases where George Bush’s own Republican appointees to the Texas Supreme Court harshly criticized Owen’s views.
Owen has tried to limit the public’s ability to access and review government information. In one case, the majority stated that under Owen's restrictive interpretation of the Texas Public Information Act, "any document, regardless of its content and regardless of whether it would be otherwise available to the public under the Public Information Act, would be exempt from disclosure just because it could be considered in a closed meeting.”
http://www.pfaw.org/pfaw/general/default.aspx?oid=7793
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