Kay Bailey Hutchison: “I rise to talk about Priscilla Owen, a woman who serves on the Texas Supreme Court, a woman of the highest moral…”

“I rise to talk about Priscilla Owen, a woman who serves on the Texas Supreme Court, a woman of the highest moral character, and a woman whose confirmation has been held up by the Senate for over 4 years--Justice Owen was first nominated on May 9, 2001, by President Bush. Her nomination has actually been voted on four times by the Senate: May 1, 2003, a cloture vote, she won 52 votes; May 8, 2003, she won 52 votes; July 29, 2003, she won 53 votes; November 14, 2003, she won 53 votes. If one looks back on a 200-year Senate tradition, the Constitution's requirement for simple majority votes on judicial nominations--as well as the specific instances where the Constitution does, in fact, specify super-majority votes, one would presume that Priscilla Owen would be sitting on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and the majority in the Senate would not have to be restoring precedent. My goodness, why isn't she sitting on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals bench? Priscilla Owen is not sitting on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, even though she received a majority of the votes in the Senate four times, because a new standard is now being required, a new standard of 60 votes. Did we have a constitutional amendment that would require 60 votes? No. Did we have a new rule that required 60 votes? No.…”