KKKarl Rove guided Priscilla Owen's career

Several "crucial moments" in the judicial career of Texas Supreme Court Justice Priscilla Owen have been "guided by the hand" of Karl Rove, the New York Times reports. Indeed, thanks in large part to Rove, the once-unknown "serial activist" Texas judge is today one of the seven nominees at the heart of the Senate's battle over the nuclear option. According to the Times, Rove helped launch Owen's career, selecting her as a candidate in the course of his 1990s campaign to turn the Texas Supreme Court into the "business-friendly…stronghold it is today." Rove then offered her the services of his consulting firm, and raised nearly $1 million for her campaign. Later, Rove would overrule then-White House counsel Alberto Gonzales in choosing Owen as one of President Bush's very first appeals court candidates.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/16/politics/16owen.html?ei=5088&en=1ce8d7b2f2dd976b&ex=1273896000&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&pagewanted=all


Justice Priscilla R. Owen of the Texas Supreme Court, in her Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in 2002.

Rove Guided Career of Judicial Nominee in Filibuster Fight

By NEIL A. LEWIS
Published: May 16, 2005

WASHINGTON, May 15 - Justice Priscilla R. Owen of the Texas Supreme Court declined a chance to be the court's first female chief justice last year so she could remain one of President Bush's nominees to a federal appeals court, Texas lawyers and political figures said in recent interviews. The decision was one of three crucial moments in her judicial career in which she seemed to have been guided by the hand of Karl Rove, Mr. Bush's chief political strategist. Justice Owen, along with Justice Janice Rogers Brown of the California Supreme Court, is now at the center of the partisan battle in the Senate over changing the filibuster rules. Senator Bill Frist of Tennessee, the Republican leader, said Friday that the two state justices, whose confirmations have been blocked by Democrats, would be brought to the Senate floor as part of the fight over changing the rules.

Justice Owen was, by all accounts, a respected but little-known lawyer in Houston in 1994 when she was first elected to the State Supreme Court with Mr. Rove's support and tutelage. Her experience up to then largely involved obscure legal cases involving pipelines and federal energy regulations. At the time, Mr. Rove was helping to make over the Texas Supreme Court from a bench populated by Democrats widely viewed as favorable to the plaintiffs' bar - the lawyers who sue companies - to the business-friendly Republican stronghold it is today. Ms. Owen would probably never have had a chance to run for the Supreme Court, because everyone considered it a hopeless task to oppose the enormously popular incumbent, Justice Lloyd Doggett. But when a Congressional seat opened up suddenly, Justice Doggett, a Democrat, decided to leave the court and run for the House. Ms. Owen found herself the Republican nominee in a state turning increasingly Republican.

Mr. Rove, who had helped select her as the Republican candidate, helped raise more than $926,000 for her campaign, almost half from lawyers and others who had business before the court, according to Texans for Public Justice, a liberal group in Austin that tracks Texas campaign donations. Mr. Rove's firm was paid some $247,000 in fees. When Mr. Bush was first elected to the White House, Mr. Rove again chose Ms. Owen, by then a justice on the Texas Supreme Court for nearly a decade, to be among the president's first appeals court candidates, administration and Congressional officials said. In doing so, the officials said, Mr. Rove had to disagree with Alberto R. Gonzales, then the White House counsel and now attorney general. Mr. Gonzales had served on the Texas Supreme Court with Justice Owen and while he liked her greatly, he had preferred another member of the court, Justice Deborah Hankinson, for the federal court seat.

Mr. Rove's third intervention came last year when the state's chief justice retired and Gov. Rick Perry privately offered to nominate Justice Owen to the post, senior Texas Republicans said in interviews. Justice Owen, whose nomination to the federal appeals court had been blocked by a Democratic filibuster, called Mr. Rove for advice before declining; some Republican political figures said he told her to turn down the post and remain ready and available for the current battle, while another Republican said Mr. Rove told her that it was her choice, but that she still had a chance at the federal court seat. The Texas Republicans who spoke about Mr. Rove's role would not allow their names to be published because they are still active in politics.

more..........

Sorry to be superficial, she's horrible enough by reputation, but what is it with Republicans and their crazy looks. Owen and her hairdo, Bolton and his cartoon mustache, Smirk and his monkey face.

These things Can be fixed, y'know.

A well-written NYT piece on Rove orchestrating and manipulating the Texas Supremem Court, and over 5 hours the only response is a comment on Owens' hair?

I'm not talking about DU. I'm talking about pretty much everyone EXCEPT DU.

There are MANY "well-written pieces" about Rove. What's the result?

Many well-written pieces about Rove, and the subject always walks away with a scratch. Not even a paper cut.

So when I read an article placing Rove at the center of just about anything you can name, I just shrug my shoulders and move on. I've gotten completely fed up with sitting here and waiting for "justice" to kick in.

"Plame affair," anyone? How many people on DU crowed "Rove's going DOWN" on this one?

Last time I checked, Rove hadn't gone down.

Welcome to Bush-Cheney II.

Bolton... Owen... etc.?

I mean good lord.

I saw that article too btw in the NYT. Rove creeps me out bigtime. I don't think he's Mr. Allpowerful or anything. But I think he has alot to do with our Religious Right problem. This is why I believe that Bush and Rove are both true believers as opposed to just using religion. Just because they don't seem to understand Jesus' teachings doesn't mean they don't THINK they do. (double negative alert - translation - They think they know what Christianity is about, but really have not clue).

Even Gonzalez had a problem with this chick. What does THAT tell you?

or gal, as the case may be.

But Owen and Bolton are probably homophobic on top of everything else.

thanks

you have there.

This week is the week...