Executive Session
EXECUTIVE SESSION -- (Senate - May 18, 2005)
NOMINATION OF PRISCILLA RICHMAN OWEN TO BE UNITED STATES CIRCUIT JUDGE FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT
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Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I thank my colleague from New York for yielding me just a few minutes. I was over in my office a few minutes ago listening to the debate on both sides, and I heard my good friend and colleague, the Senator from Texas, talk about her tremendous friendship and passion for the woman whose nomination is in front of the Senate today, Priscilla Owen.
I have tremendous respect for Senator Hutchison and all of her passion she has put in here. All Senators have been in a position of fighting hard for something we believe in, someone we care about. Sometimes we win, sometimes we have lost.
One of the things that was said was that many of the colleagues on this side of the aisle, many of my colleagues have declined any opportunity to meet with this lovely person. They have refused to sit down and ask her questions to see if the person that is portrayed and the propaganda is really the same person.
Mr. President, I want to set the record straight. I did sit down and meet with Judge Owen yesterday at the request of the Senator from Texas. I could not agree more, she was a lovely person. But this is not a debate about a lovely person. This is a debate about a record on judicial decisions and about whether that record merits promoting someone to a lifetime appointment.
I will later today join with my colleagues to give more specifics, but I have sat down with Priscilla Owen. I have asked her questions, and I have reviewed the record. This is not about a person. This is about a record. It is about a record that is outside the mainstream on parental consent, which we have heard about. But not just that, it is about victims' rights, which any of us can be. It is about workers' rights, about a bias about campaign contributions. We will be setting that record straight throughout this debate.
It is especially important for all to recognize a record says what someone will be and what decisions they will make about any one of us in this country in the future. That is what I dispute. That is what I will discuss later today when I have more time to outline.
We can all agree that lovely people deserve opportunities, but when it comes to our courts and when it comes to making decisions about us, our family, about women, about children, about rape victims, about workers, the many things that come before a court, a record is what we have to look at and what we have to stand on.
I thank my colleague from New York for giving me an opportunity to respond.
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