Senate Confirms Pryor
Feature Story by civilrights.org staff - 6/10/2005
The Senate has confirmed a third controversial nominee to a seat on the federal bench, approving by a 53-45 vote the lifetime appointment of William Pryor to a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.Three Republican senators voted against Pryor's confirmation, a first for a Bush appellate nominee.
In February 2004, President Bush gave Pryor a temporary recess appointment to the Eleventh Circuit, which would have expired at the end of this congressional session.
In a statement released after Pryor's confirmation, Wade Henderson, executive director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, decried the Senate's decision:
"As Alabama Attorney General, Pryor worked hard to roll back the clock on federal protections. He bragged that Alabama was the only state to challenge the constitutionality of Violence Against Women Act and has argued that the Supreme Court should cut back on the protections of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Family and Medical Leave Act. These are not the hallmarks of good judge - they are the credentials of an ideologue. Pryor uses the paddles of right wing ideology to propel his decisions against the current of America's mainstream. His confirmation is a disgrace."
Hundreds of national, local and state organizations opposed Pryor's confirmation, including civil rights, workers' rights, women's rights, individual rights, and civil liberties groups.
The groups maintained that Pryor was one of the architects of the so-called "states' rights" movement that seeks to limit the power of Congress to enact legislation that protects civil and constitutional rights.
