[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 38, Number 36 (Monday, September 9, 2002)]
[Page 1511]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Statement on the Senate Judiciary Committee Vote on Priscilla Owen

September 5, 2002

    The Senate Judiciary Committee today voted to deny the American 
people the service of an outstanding individual with a record of 
accomplishment and a brilliant legal mind. The committee has voted down 
Justice Priscilla Owen, my nominee to serve as a judge on the Fifth 
Circuit Court of Appeals, and is preventing the full Senate from voting 
on her nomination.
    I know Justice Owen well. She is an outstanding judge and a woman of 
integrity who has received outspoken bipartisan support. Based on her 
distinguished service with the Texas Supreme Court for 7 years, the 
American Bar Association unanimously rated her ``well qualified,'' the 
highest rating the organization can bestow upon a nominee. She is known 
to be a fair and impartial judge who strives to interpret the law 
fairly.
    What the Democrat members of the Senate Judiciary Committee have 
done to Justice Owen is shameful, even by Washington standards. They 
have distorted her record and misconstrued her opinions. They have 
determined that a nominee's experience, academic credentials, and 
character are inconsequential.
    Justice Owen's nomination should be brought to the floor of the 
Senate for a vote. If the full Senate were to vote on her nomination 
today, I am confident she would be confirmed. The Democrats on the 
Judiciary Committee know this and, therefore, voted to prevent it.
    As I have said before, today's vote is about more than one woman or 
one seat on an individual court. The committee's action today continues 
its pattern of obstruction at a time when there are too many vacancies 
in our Federal courts, a problem that the Chief Justice of the United 
States has called ``alarming.'' Today's action by this small group of 
Democrat Senators is wrong. It has harmed a good person, harmed our 
courts, and harmed the American people.