Free Republic

The Supreme Court agreed on June 21 to hear an appeal from a Romanian-American businessman who was fined $50,000 for failing to file tax forms on time, but whose penalty ballooned to $2.72 million when an appeals court ruled the fine should be imposed based on the number of bank accounts he held, instead of on the number of forms he failed to file.The Biden administration, which wants to beef up enforcement efforts by the IRS, favors the larger penalty and had asked the high court to refuse to take the case. The case is Bittner v. United States of...

WASHINGTON — Rebounding from the failed nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court, President Bush is poised to select between two of the nation's leading conservative federal appeals-court judges — both with deep backgrounds in constitutional law — for what promises to be a bruising Senate confirmation battle. With an announcement expected today or Monday, administration officials have narrowed the focus to Judges Samuel Alito of New Jersey and Michael Luttig of Virginia, sources involved in the process said. Both have sterling legal qualifications and solid conservative credentials, and either would set off an explosive fight with Senate Democrats,...

McClellan said Rove told Dobson that "some individuals, when the list was longer, well into the double digits, had said that they preferred not to be considered" because they did not want to deal with "the ordeal of going through the confirmation process." But he said that had nothing to do with Bush's eventual nomination of Miers. "The president made a decision to nominate Harriet Miers. That was his choice, his only choice," he said. McClellan would give no names of candidates who withdrew but a conservative federal appeals court judge, Priscilla Owen of Texas, was reportedly one of them....

MIERS & LAST-MINUTE DROP-OUTS [Kathryn Jean Lopez] A journalist friend just spoke with a top Texas lawyer who spoke with Priscilla Owen last week. He says that she "most emphatically" did not withdraw her name from consideration to the Court. If the White House spin is that Harriet Miers got the job because nobody else wanted it, it would seem that the White House is at a desperation point. Posted at 12:07 PM

Owen is out Sep 30 2005 12:42 PM By TimChapman According to a very reliable source close to the White House vetting process for the next nominee, Priscilla Owen has withdrawn her name from the process. With Owen out, conservatives have lost one of the better women on the short list.

With the White House signaling its intention to force a showdown over a handful of stalled judicial nominees, the question is no longer if it will happen but when, and with which nominees as first up. There are indications that Priscilla Owen will emerge as the public face of what's likely to be a wildly contentious battle that poses serious political risks for both parties. The White House has certainly shown unusual dedication to Owen's nomination. Since being chosen in 2001 as one of Bush's original slate of federal nominees, Owen, a justice on the Texas Supreme Court, has been...

The Supreme Court buzz earlier today was all about Alberto Gonzales (a trial balloon that I think failed badly once again), then Miguel Estrada, then Karen Williams. Now there's an AP story out that adds pretty much every attorney in the United States. Estrada was burned during the hearings and has little stomach for the process -- he was twice nominated and twice filibustered. He's a stealth candidate who is rumored to be pro-life. Estrada allegedly told associates of the National Organization of Women (NOW) at a luncheon in 1994 that he believes abortion to be murder -- but are we really...

Texan Priscilla Owen, who was the focal point of a bitter, four-year nomination battle for a federal appeals court, is emerging as a candidate for the U.S. Supreme Court as President Bush seeks a replacement for retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. Owen, who sits on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, is among at least a half-dozen Texans believed to be under consideration for the impending vacancy. Other candidates from the state are U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and several of Owen's 5th Circuit colleagues. ....... Although Owen has been on the appeals court less than four months, the...

Robert Novak reports Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) "has informed" Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) "that Federal Appeals Court Judge Priscilla Owen will be filibustered if President Bush names her to replace Justice Sandra Day O'Connor on the Supreme Court. "Republican senators are divided on whether former Texas Supreme Court Justice Owen is vulnerable because she underwent a filibuster for the appellate seat and was confirmed under the compromise agreement. Frist is known to believe Owen can be confirmed in the face of a filibuster. "Republican Senate strategists believe Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is the only possible Bush nominee...

With Senate confirmation of Judge John G. Roberts Jr. as chief justice virtually assured, the struggle for the Supreme Court returns to replacing retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. The belief in legal and political circles is that President Bush will name a conservative woman, and the front-runner is Federal Appellate Judge Priscilla Owen (5th Circuit, Austin, Texas). According to White House sources, Bush met secretly with Owen last week. While not decisive evidence, this was no mere get-acquainted session beginning a long exploration. The president knows and admires his fellow Texas Republican. The countervailing political pressure on Bush is to...

Judge Priscilla Owen U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit Confirmed May 25, 2005 Since 1995, Justice Priscilla Owen has served as a distinguished and respected Justice on the Supreme Court of Texas. The American Bar Association unanimously rated Justice Owen "Well Qualified," its highest possible rating. Justice Owen has significant bipartisan support, including three former Democrat judges on the Texas Supreme Court and a bipartisan group of 15 past Presidents of the State Bar of Texas. The seat to which Justice Owen has been nominated has been designated a "judicial emergency" by the Judicial Conference of the United...

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Elizabeth Dole, the Senate Republican campaign chairman, has assigned fellow Republicans to defend Sen. Rick Santorum from increasingly harsh Democratic attacks on the floor as he faces a tough re-election in Pennsylvania. Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid and Sen. Edward M. Kennedy have led political attacks on Santorum that formerly would not have been possible in a less combative Senate. Sen. Hillary Clinton has sniped at Santorum's new book, "It Takes a Family." Although Santorum is third ranking in the party's Senate hierarchy as Republican Conference chairman

In his Monday column, Replacing O'Connor could get ugly, Bob Novak reports that Judge Priscilla Owen is on President Bush's short list to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. He claims that Owen had a secret meeting with the President last week and that things went well. This comports with insider Washington speculation that Bush will name either a conservative woman or minority to fill the post. Here's some information about Owen: Many political and legal insiders consider Owen is viewed as the strongest choice. Owen is only 50 years old and would guarantee a conservative court for 20 years....

<p>Freerepublic will not let me post the original link so I am using Confirm Them as a proxy. Basically he says its Owen, Clemente out of loop because of bad interview w/ W and that Al Gonzales will not be picked. This site has the best SCOTUS info and rumors.</p>

Judge Priscilla Owen U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit Confirmed May 25, 2005 Since 1995, Justice Priscilla Owen has served as a distinguished and respected Justice on the Supreme Court of Texas. The American Bar Association unanimously rated Justice Owen "Well Qualified," its highest possible rating.Justice Owen has significant bipartisan support, including three former Democrat judges on the Texas Supreme Court and a bipartisan group of 15 past Presidents of the State Bar of Texas.The seat to which Justice Owen has been nominated has been designated a "judicial emergency" by the Judicial Conference of the United States....

This week's vicious attack on Judge John Roberts by the abortion lobby was not really a desperate effort to defeat him against overwhelming odds. Rather, it is part of an intricate game that not only determines the occupant of one seat on the Supreme Court but can set its ideological course for the next generation. The current hard count for Roberts is 60 senators. That would be more than enough to confirm him and barely enough to end a filibuster. But it is not enough to further the grand strategy for a conservative court. At least 70 votes for confirmation...

Not only is there a bright side for conservatives in the recent Senate “compromise” on Presidential appointments, but it’s hard to find any reason at all to justify celebration by liberal Democrats. President Bush’s long-stalled 5th Circuit nominee, Priscilla Owen, now sits on that federal bench, and confirmations of capable conservatives Janice Rogers Brown and William Pryor are soon to follow. Even the prospective nominations of William Meyers and Henry Saad have been sidetracked in thought only. Make no mistake – the dam has cracked and its eventual collapse is as easy as ever to see. The seven Republican signatories...

Texas judge Priscilla Owen, the subject of a long and heated confirmation battle in the U.S. Senate, took the oath of office Monday for her new seat on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Owen, a justice on the Texas Supreme Court for more than a decade, won Senate confirmation to the federal post last month after a four-year fight over President Bush´s push to place conservatives on the nation´s highest courts. She became the first of Bush´s long-blocked nominees to win approval under an agreement reached by centrists in the Senate.

On the day before Texas Supreme Court Justice Priscilla Owen was confirmed by the Senate as part of a negotiated compromise, Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin called her "wacko." Harkin, appearing on liberal Randi Rhodes's national radio talk show, became animated as he said of Owen: "This is not a person to put on the bench for a lifetime appointment. This person is wacko! She's wacko!" On the same program, Harkin said Christian broadcasters are "sort of our home-grown Taliban." He added: "They have a direct line to God. And if you don't tune into their line, you're obviously on Satan's...

The filibuster isn't a noble institution, it's a tactic - and one with a checkered past, at that. Liberals decried it in the 1960s when segregationist Southern Democrats used it to thwart the will of the majority to block civil rights legislation. But at least that tawdry application of the filibuster was consistent with its purpose in the United States Senate as a procedure to force legislative compromise.