WHATEVER ELSE HAPPENS in the life of Priscilla Owen, the Texas Supreme Court justice has made history. Of a sort. Two years ago, President Bush nominated her for a seat on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The Senate Judiciary Committee finally gave her a hearing in July and then–on a party-line, 10-to-9 vote–rejected her nomination. In January, Bush resubmitted her name, and last week she sat for a second time before the Judiciary Committee.

Justice Owen thus became the first judicial nominee ever to be defeated in committee only to see her name resubmitted and then to be given another hearing. The resurrection of her nomination obviously was made possible by the midterm elections. Had Senate control not shifted to the Republicans–had the Senate remained Democratic–Owen probably wouldn’t have been renominated.