Why Is * So Anxious To Get Judge "Enron" Owens in the 5th Circuit?

[McCamy Taylor]

You have to admit, the efforts which the Senate and Frist are making are Herculean. I mean, getting rid of the Fillibuster is extreme. It is like sacrificing "Mr. Smith" so that a two bit hick judge with poor ratings from Texas can get a 5th Circuit Court appointment. I sense that the other judge they have added on to the package is just that...an add on, designed to make it appear that * and Co. are trying to promote women and minorities while obscuring the real issue which is that Judge "Enron" Owens had to have done something to have gotten her nickname.

http://www.now.org/issues/legislat/nominees/owens.html

"Enron's political action committee gave Owen $8,600 for her successful Supreme Court bid in 1994. Two years later, Owen wrote the majority opinion that reversed a lower court order and reduced Enron's school taxes by $15 million. Since 1993, Enron contributed $134,058 — more than any other corporation — to Owen and other members of the Texas Supreme Court. A study by Texans for Public Justice found that the court ruled in Enron's favor in five out of six cases involving the company since 1993."

Now, being a former lawyer for oil and gas companies and a staunch defender of the rights of oil gas and other companies to screw the little people would be enough to make her a model 5th Circuit Judge in the eyes of *. But there must be more here. Why is * so desperate to get Judge "Enron" Owens in place in the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals THIS YEAR?

Could it have something to do with the Enron criminal trails of Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling which start early next year? Or, the civil trial against Enron which may start if Gov. Terminator does not manage to derail it? Once those trial begin, defendants in the criminals cases and plaintifs in the civil suit may try to call * or Cheney or Thomas White or any number of other administration officials as witnesses. They could try to present documents that would embarass the WH. Does * plan to appeal all such subponeas to the 5th Circuit Court where good old Judge "Enron" Owens will squash them?

Or, how about this? Ken Lay knows way too much about *'s involvement in Enron. Were he to spill the beans he could take * down with him. What if he and the prosecutors have cut a secret deal. The prosecution will be sham. Lay will be "convicted". But, there will be a procedural error and the conviction will be overturned on appeal, and Judge "Enron" Owens will be the deciding Judge. That kind of deal would be so overwhelming important that the WH would use all its clout to force Frist to go nuclear to get Judge "Enron" Owens on the 5th Circuit Court.

Just a suggestion.

:dem:

[splat@14]

1. Damn good suggestion! Needs viewed. voted n/t

[Terre]

27. Amunition against Owens - "Judges hear verdict on themselves"

Article at the Houston Chronicle:

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/3191921

Percentages of HBA members who rated judges outstanding, acceptable or poor in the overall rating category, with the number of poll responses in parentheses following the names. Judges who were on the bench for less than six months before Dec. 31, 2004, were not included in the poll. The full report is online at hba.org.

Supreme Court of Texas

Judge...................Outstanding....Acceptable....Poor


Scott A. Brister (422)........36.9.........20.7........42.4
Nathan L. Hecht (327).......40.3.........17.4........42.3
Wallace B. Jefferson (270)..53.4.........29.7........16.9
Harriet O'Neill (334)...........55.0.........30.5........14.5
Priscilla R. Owen (350)...39.5.........15.2........45.3 Highest Poor rating of all 6
Dale Wainwright (316)........48.7.........25.7........25.7

Editing to add: Don't forget to email or fax this to your Senator, even if we already know they side with Frist. We only have tomorrow and Monday to get this to them. Calls are reserved for last minute pleadings.

[splat@14]

30. I sent this (the PDF file from the Houston Bar Assoc) to

Democracy Now, CNN, the Moral Majority (don't know why, they just piss me off) and my senators/congressman. I am alos going to fax this to Harry Reid and the "Democratic Newsroom" shown on his web page.

Give `em hell!

[Al-CIAda]

2. Nominated & kick.

[Pepperbelly]

3. EGGGGGGGGZEEEEELLLLEEEENT catch!

:applause:

[ananda]

4. Whoa!

BFEE forever. Democracy and bipartisanship be dammed!

Sue

[Kolesar]

5. It's a setup for when a liberal member of the Supreme Court is gone

Replacing Rehnquist will mean replacing one RW a55hole with another. If the filibuster was intact, the Democrats could just filibuster *any* nominee and force the SCOTUS to meet with only 8 members. It has happened before when the Senate stopped the President on a SCOTUS nominee.

[bunny planet]

6. Sounds about right.

Kick and nominated.
:kick:

[ooglymoogly]

7. good sleuthing

kicked and nominated

[nadinbrzezinski]

8. nominated

Great Catch

[blondeatlast]

9. Just call her the (dis)Honorable Priscilla Enron.

Excellent find--yet another nomination.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

10. Because he wants to get his energy policy in before Repubs

get kicked out

[Joanne98]

11. Maybe Kenny Boy will appeal his sentence thru 5th circuit.

I was thinking the same thing.

[grannylib]

14. My thoughts as well...gotta have something to do with making sure Kenny

Boy gets off easy.
Can't be applying 'personal responsibility' to anyone with money, now, can we?
Nor to anyone in this illegitimate administration, either.

[Last Lemming]

12. If she received donations from

Enron can she still rule on Lay's and Skilling's appeals?

[RoyGBiv]

15. One word ...

Scalia

[chelsea0011]

13. You can't ignore that Rove ran her election in Tx.

Although by listening to Molly Ivens recently on Now, Owen is over-the-top pro business for a pro business Supreme Court of Tx., but this probably has more to do with rove. the Dems would like to break the hold of Rove/Bush with this nomination.

[acmejack]

16. took the words right out of my kybd!

These dipshits are nothing if not loyal to each other. Owens is a terrible, lousy, no good, political creature. As a Texan I have added incentive to despise her thoroughly.

[Daphne08]

17. If true, isn't this illegal -- or at the very least,

a conflict of interest? Shouldn't she have recused herself?

"Enron's political action committee gave Owen $8,600 for her successful Supreme Court bid in 1994. Two years later, Owen wrote the majority opinion that reversed a lower court order and reduced Enron's school taxes by $15 million. Since 1993, Enron contributed $134,058 — more than any other corporation — to Owen and other members of the Texas Supreme Court. A study by Texans for Public Justice found that the court ruled in Enron's favor in five out of six cases involving the company since 1993."

[Tigress DEM]

20. 'publicans don't recuse themselves. Sheeeeeut.

Wut fun would that be?

What if Ken Blackwell had recused himself for conflict of interest as the Secretary of the State of Ohio just because he was also the co-chairman of Bush's re-election campaign?

Now he wouldn't have had the chance to screw the Ohio voters out of their rights and Kerry would be President and we wouldn't have no war that is making all kinds of money for Cheney, Bush and all their really good friends.

[aion]

21. I believe the law says "may recuse" rather than "shall recuse"

The black robes tend to leave that decision to the individual judges to decide. Of course that decision is their's to make, then they should be punished (via impeachment) if we believe them to be acting against the spirit of the law.

[mopinko]

22. shalldamay

n. a simple, one word change in a proposed law that guts the original intent and is seldom noticed by the average citizen.

[specimenfred1984]

18. Good Suggestion

She's another Enron stooge and of course, a fascist.

They want fascists as judges, it's that simple.

[Tigress DEM]

19. Possible related post...

Because of the illegal activities of BushCo et al - even Condi Rice came from Chevron.... I think the whole oil industry which has made insane profits off this war is guilty of crimes we can't even begin to fathom and the administration up to it's neck with it. So I can see why they would want a "sympathetic" (read bought and paid for) judge in the court of appeals.


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x126776

<clip>
Minority report documents indicate that one of the largest recipients of Bayoil Iraqi oil shipments was Enron, the bankrupt company that served as a virtual slush fund for the political campaigns of George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush, and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The following describe the shipments to Enron:



At the same time Enron Chairman Kenneth ("Kenny Boy") Lay was involved in Vice President Dick Cheney's Energy Task Force secret dealings and when he was stuffing hundreds of thousands of dollars into the pockets of George W. Bush and Cheney's political campaign, he also managed to illegally stick $206, 757 into the pockets of Saddam Hussein and his cohorts.

The Iraqi Oil-for-Food scandal also involves one of the Bush children—Dorothy "Doro" Bush Koch, sister of George W. Bush and married to Bobby Koch, reportedly a cousin in the oil industry Koch family, the owner of Koch Industries, which is also one of Bush's largest political donors. The minority committee report indicates that Koch Industries was also a major recipient of illegal Iraqi oil and a huge source of kickbacks to Saddam Hussein:



The total sum in kickbacks from George W. Bush's cousin-in-laws to Saddam's bank accounts: $1,294,620.

[McCamy Taylor]

24. O.O Big eyeball stare that America would do if this was reported

But we wont be seeing an indepth story about this on CNN or FOX. No, they would rather trash Gallager and the UN.

[AwakeAtLast]

28. I believe you've found it.

Well, at least one of the smoking guns. There are so many out there, it is hard to keep track!

The shit just keeps gettin' deeper and deeper. :grr:

[Iggytop]

23. It's all about

the Supremes !!!!

[McCamy Taylor]

25. Judge Enron gives the Supremes a little breathing space...

...so they dont have to do all the dirty work themselves.

[ebayfool]

26. Nominated & kick. n/t

[Disturbed]

29. Fascist Exec. Branch, Congress, Courts

The Fascists have a plan.

[ebayfool]

32. This looks like it's been laid out, you're right! kick n/t

[rhett o rick]

31. She is headed for the Supreme Court - Mark my words

[McCamy Taylor]

33. Looks like she is headed to the 5th Circuit Court--where * wants her.