Priscilla Owen

• Has been criticized as being on the "far right wing" of the Texas court, further to the right than Bush's own appointees to that court when he was governor.

• Supported the elimination and narrowing of buffer zones around reproductive health care clinics in Houston.

• In every judicial bypass case that came before the Texas Supreme Court last spring (bypass allows a young woman to obtain an abortion without notifying her parents if she proves her maturity to a judge), Owen voted against granting the young woman a bypass.

• Supports "stricter interpretation" of the state law that Bush signed requiring girls younger than 18 to inform their parents before obtaining an abortion.

• Member of the board of the Houston Chapter of the Federalist Society, an ultra-conservative legal organization.

• 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.

Updated 11/17/03