The Glass Ceiling in the US Senate

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September 9, 2002, 10:05 a.m.Owen Hits the Glass CeilingThe wrong kind of woman.
By Kay R. Daly

Feminist groups took a dramatic anti-woman turn last Thursday when the effort to defeat Texas Supreme Court Justice Priscilla Owen, President Bush's nominee to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, succeeded.

Despite overwhelming support from a bipartisan group of colleagues, associates, editorial boards, and friends from across the nation, Priscilla Owen was denied a seat on the federal bench by ten liberal U.S. senators browbeaten by feminists.

With a straight party-line vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee of 10-9, liberal feminist groups welcomed Owen's defeat. This, despite the fact that Justice Owen was more than qualified. She has served with distinction on the Texas supreme court since first being elected in 1994. Every major newspaper in Texas endorsed her reelection bid in November of 2000, and she was reelected with 84 percent of the vote. The American Bar Association, not known for conservative leanings, unanimously rated Justice Owen "well qualified," its highest possible rating — once referred to by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy as the "gold standard."

In fact, this is the first time in history that a nominee voted unanimously "well qualified" by the ABA has been voted down in the United States Senate.

When examined, the earliest notions of the feminist movement are relatively benign, even noble. Voting rights for women were certainly worthwhile. But "equal access despite gender" has degenerated into a crusade for special access based on biology. Feminists have ridden roughshod over politicians and corporations for years, demanding quotas, bullying candidates, and extracting exceptions to rules — not based on merit but birthright.

The only caveat to their quest for absolute equality is if one is conservative. In this new feminist movement, not all women are created equal. As George Orwell wrote in Animal Farm, all are equal, but some are "equaler" than others. If she agrees with liberal doctrine, she is equal enough to be confirmed by the United States Senate. If not, she need not apply.

Former president of the National Organization for Women, Patricia Ireland, was on Fox last week, wound up in knots over women's access to the Augusta Golf Course, home of the Masters Golf Tournament. These are the feminists' issues.

While they fight about golf balls, they work against qualified women who don't pass their ideological litmus test. The main complaint about Priscilla Owen from extreme feminist organizations seems to stem from a parental-notification case in which Justice Owen upheld existing Texas law — a law supported by over 80 percent of Americans. Justice Owen abides by a judicial philosophy that requires her to interpret statutes as they were written, recognizing that it is the role of the legislature to fashion policy.

It is that keen understanding of judicial restraint that should have put Priscilla Owen on the bench. Instead, our federal judiciary seems to be suffering from an outbreak of dangerous judicial activism. While our nation is at war abroad, in two recent cases, federal judges have released suspected terrorists back onto our city streets. Homeland security, anyone?

This is a tragic time for women. Priscilla Owen attended law school at a time when only 29 percent of law students were female. She received the highest grade on the bar exam. She worked hard and ultimately earned a seat on the Texas supreme court. Now, however, she has hit a glass ceiling installed, ironically, by feminists.

If today's feminists are looking for relevance in the lives of real women, here's a hint, ladies: It isn't at Augusta.
— Kay R. Daly is president of the Coalition for a Fair Judiciary.