[ Report Home | Previous Page | Next Page ] TEXAS SUPREME COURT JUSTICE PRISCILLA OWEN I. Owen’s Judicial Career

Immediately before she was elected to the Texas Supreme Court, Priscilla Owen represented oil and gas clients for the Houston-based corporate defense firm of Andrews & Kurth. Since joining the court in January 1995, Owen has authored and joined a body of activist, right-wing opinions that are out of the mainstream--even by Texas standards. Her result-oriented opinions overwhelmingly favor defendants over plaintiffs, businesses over consumers and judges over juries.

Public confidence in these opinions has been further undermined by the fact that Owen and her colleagues were elected to office in expensive political campaigns that were heavily funded by the same business interests and defense attorneys who have benefited from the bulk of their opinions. The Texas Supreme Court’s own 1999 poll found that 83 percent of Texans, 79 percent of Texas lawyers, and even 48 percent of Texas judges say that campaign contributions significantly influence judicial decisions.¹  Justice Owen rarely has recused herself from cases involving large campaign contributors.

 Examining opinions that Owen wrote or joined from 1995 through 2001, this report documents the extent to which Owen has written and joined opinions that are:

• Activist and Extremist;
• Anti-Consumer;
• Anti-Jury; and
• Tainted By Contributor Conflicts.