Talk about outside of the judicial mainstream! Alabama Attorney General Bill Pryor is the latest extremist candidate nominated by the Bush Administration for a federal judgeship.
An appointee to the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th circuit, Pryor has called Roe v. Wade "the worst abomination of constitutional law in our history." He's compared homosexuality to necrophilia and incest. He's fought aggressively to prevent the disabled from enforcing their rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act. He's urged Congress to gut a key provision of the Voting Rights Act, which protects the right to vote for African-Americans. He's argued that the First Amendment doesn't mandate "the strict separation of church and state," and that "the challenge of the next millennium will be to preserve the American experiment by restoring its Christian perspective."
Heard enough? If not, IndependentJudiciary.Com, an invaluable site run by the non-profit Alliance for Justice, has collected a dossier of good reasons why Pryor's appointment should be rejected. (There's also info about other nominees.)
Peter Rothberg
Talk about outside of the judicial mainstream! Alabama Attorney General Bill Pryor is the latest extremist candidate nominated by the Bush Administration for a federal judgeship.
An appointee to the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th circuit, Pryor has called Roe v. Wade “the worst abomination of constitutional law in our history.” He’s compared homosexuality to necrophilia and incest. He’s fought aggressively to prevent the disabled from enforcing their rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act. He’s urged Congress to gut a key provision of the Voting Rights Act, which protects the right to vote for African-Americans. He’s argued that the First Amendment doesn’t mandate “the strict separation of church and state,” and that “the challenge of the next millennium will be to preserve the American experiment by restoring its Christian perspective.”
Heard enough? If not, IndependentJudiciary.Com, an invaluable site run by the non-profit Alliance for Justice, has collected a dossier of good reasons why Pryor‘s appointment should be rejected. (There’s also info about other nominees.)
Send a letter to your Senators urging them to vote against Pryor’s nomination. It’ll take about ninety seconds using the Nation‘s new online activism kit. On this issue, it could really help make a difference. The Dems have effectively filibustered both Miguel Estrada and Priscilla Owen (two other loony-right Bush nominees). Bill Pryor deserves the same treatment.
Peter RothbergTwitterPeter Rothberg is the The Nation’s associate publisher.