Priscilla Owen - Worse Judge in Texas. Again Loyalty over Quality

Priscilla was voted one of the worse judges in Texas by the Houston Bar Associations biannual evaluations. Her overall rating had the highest "poor" rating on the entire Texas Supreme Court.
(http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/rssstory.mpl/metropolitan/3191921 Houston Chronicle, May 21 2005)

Paul Berka of the Texas Monthly wrote about her disregard for legal precedents. He is highly critical of her because of her rulings in several cases.

In Natural Gas Pipeline v. Pool she apparently re-wrote the Texas oil-and-gas law on behalf of producers when she ruled that an oil producer could restart producing on a landowners land even after the law says that they should lose possession once they stop drilling. . "She reflexively favors manufacturers over consumers, employers over workers, and insurers over sick people," said the New York Times in an editorial. "...the criticism of Owen comes from lawyers and law professors who have seen decades of precedents favoring landowners tossed aside to favor producers."

In HECI v. Neel Precedent favors royalty owner's rights. She decided that Neels should lose a suit against the oil driller HECI because the statue of limitations had run out, but there were legal precedents. "A Houston lawyer named Paul Simpson wrote a bluntly critical analysis of the case that began, "The Texas Supreme Court's 1999 opinion in HECI v. Neel was not supported by the record in that case, departed from established oil and gas law, and deviates from the mainstream of law in other major producing states."
(above 2 cases from Texas Monthly "Judging Priscilla" by Paul Burka)
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She is not the good lawyer she is being showcased as. But she is a good friend of the President and his Machiavellian advisor Karl Rove. Again, loyalty takes precedent over quality. And again, moderate Americans are ignored as the administration tilts the balance of power in favor of a monolithic few. Perhaps the press at some future time will report on the true character of these nominations. But by then, it may be too late.