Bill Frist wants everyone to know that he’s decided which judge to use in order to prompt the nuclear option fight: Priscilla Owen.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist plans for Texas Supreme Court Justice Priscilla Owen to be the judicial nomination on which he uses the “nuclear option” against Democratic filibusters later this month, according to Republicans familiar with his plans.
Justice Owen, first nominated to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals four years ago yesterday, has often been seen as the most likely nominee to be pushed though. And when Mr. Frist, Tennessee Republican, made his final offer to Democrats last month to avoid a showdown, he mentioned only one nominee: Justice Owen.
The Republican sources, both on and off Capitol Hill, say the choice of Justice Owen for the precedent-setting vote is based in part on the political calculation that she is a sure winner and, as one source said, “a great face” for this issue.
This is, of course, the same Owen who’s come under fire, repeatedly, for legislating from the bench. Bush’s Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales, called one of her opinions “an unconscionable act of judicial activism.” In another case, Gonzales accused Owen of attempting to “judicially amend the statute.” Her hometown Austin American-Statesman said Owen is “so conservative that she places herself out of the broad mainstream of jurisprudence,” and added that she “seems all too willing to bend the law to fit her views, rather than the reverse.”
Having said all that, I’m still a little suspicious of Frist’s announcement. As we’ve noted before, if he had the votes to pull off the nuclear option, he’d do so. It sounds like it’s part of the ongoing bluff — back down now or he’ll bring this “great face” to the floor. I’m not buying it.