Already, Bush judicial nominee Priscilla Owen is being targeted by liberal activist groups for an upcoming nominations battle for the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Judge Owen received a "Well Qualified" rating from the American Bar Association, which Sen. Patrick Leahy himself described as "the gold standard" for judicial nominations. Judge Owen was reelected to the Texas Supreme Court by a wide margin, and was endorsed by most major Texas newspapers in the process.
What has attracted the ire of the radical left is that Judge Owen is a strict constructionist. She is unwilling to interpret legal statutes in a way that agrees with the radical agenda of the left. To the left, that is considered an act of &quo;judicial activism". Blantantly twisting legal statutes and regulations for social engineering is fine by these groups, but being a conservative is enough to deny one a seat in the federal judiciary.
Already, Judge Owen has been held from recieving her confirmation hearing for over a year. This kind of obstructionism is uncalled for, and Leahy and company are allowing liberal interest groups to call the shots on the President’s judicial nominations. As the war on terror requires a fully-staffed judiciary, this kind of partisan bickering is clearly inappropriate for the time. Judicial nominations should be based solely on judicial qualifications, not political litmus tests.
