John Cornyn: “at various times during the course of debate in recent days over the nomination of Justice Priscilla Owen, a number of…”

“at various times during the course of debate in recent days over the nomination of Justice Priscilla Owen, a number of her previous rulings have been badly mischaracterized. Last Thursday, May 19, I rose to speak about a number of those cases and to correct the record. And just this morning, I published an op-ed in National Review Online to further rebut these baseless criticisms. I ask unanimous consent that an excerpt of that op-ed be printed in the Record. There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in the Record, as follows: It is now conceded that Justice Owen, Justice Brown, and Judge Pryor all deserve up-or-down votes. I happen to know personally that the case against Justice Owen was especially weak, because I know Priscilla personally from our service together on the Texas supreme court. Just consider the following litany of supposedly ``out of the mainstream'' rulings for which she was criticized: A number of senators criticized Justice Owen's opinion in Montgomery Independent School District v. Davis. One senator specifically attacked her for failing to protect a teacher who was ``wrongly dismissed.'' The case involved the authority of a local school board to dismiss a poorly performing and abusive teacher.…”