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...Mr. Lord is at pains to note that, although Judge Smith is less known than other judicial nominees who have come under "borking" assault -- think of William Pryor, Miguel Estrada, Janice Rogers Brown and Charles Pickering -- his experience offers a kind of template of abuse: Activist groups unearth whatever harmful details they can find, no matter how dubious; they gin them up into screaming charges; the charges in turn get picked up by reporters, eager to keep pace with a potential "controversy," and by politicians, eager to find any stick with which to beat a "dangerous" nominee from...

Senate deal is done: Three judges are confirmed The Associated Press June 10, 2005 6:01AM WASHINGTON - The GOP-controlled Senate approved former Alabama Attorney General William Pryor and Michigan nominees David McKeague and Richard Griffin Thursday for seats on the U.S. Appeals Court, completing an unprecedented run of long-delayed judicial confirmations. With a vote of 53-45, Pryor was approved for 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the Atlanta-based court that handles federal appeals from Alabama, Georgia and Florida. Griffin was confirmed 95-0 and McKeague 96-0, both for seats on the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati. ''These three nominees...

-snip- William H. Pryor Jr., now 43, grew up to become the straight-talking attorney general of Alabama, a man who once called the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision "the worst abomination of constitutional law in our history." On Thursday, the Senate voted 53 to 45 to confirm Judge Pryor to the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, covering Alabama, Florida and Georgia, 16 months after Mr. Bush installed him on the bench temporarily while Congress was in recess. To his detractors, Judge Pryor, the last of three judges whose confirmations were assured by a bipartisan agreement,...

A Different Timpanist WASHINGTON, June 9 - On the day in 1973 that the Supreme Court made abortion legal, the Pryor family of Mobile, Ala., discussed it at the dinner table. Laura Pryor recalls that she and her husband, both teachers in Roman Catholic schools, were "very upset." But they had little idea what an impression the talk made on their 10-year-old son, William. -snip-- "We did not realize until later in life," she said, "until he was much older, how much we had influenced him on that." -- snip -- His father, William H. Pryor Sr., was the band...

Twelve Democrats were among the 67 votes in support of cloture on Bill Pryor’s nomination to the 11th Circuit. These twelve included the seven Democratic signatories to the Gang of Fourteen’s anti-cloture reform agreement (Byrd, Inouye, Landrieu, Lieberman, Ben Nelson, Pryor, and Salazar). Of the five additional Democratic votes for cloture, four — Bingaman, Carper, Conrad, and Bill Nelson — are up for re-election in 2006, and the fifth, Tim Johnson of South Dakota, has a tenuous hold on his seat. This would seem to provide an encouraging read on how the politics of judicial confirmation are playing out among...

Good Thursday morning, fellow political junkies. Today's cloture vote on the Pryor nomination is scheduled at 4:PM. Follow along with us, here, and comment...

Pryor a shoo-in for appeals court > By BILL RANKIN The Atlanta Journal-Constitution > Published on: 06/09/05 The bitter two-year fight over the nomination of William Pryor to the federal appeals court in Atlanta is about to end. In a 67-32 vote Wednesday, the U.S. Senate decided to cut off debate on President Bush's appointment of the former Alabama attorney general to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. A vote on his confirmation is expected today. The Republican majority in the Senate virtually guarantees Pryor's appointment to the lifetime post. But until a recent compromise between Republicans and Democrats,...

WASHINGTON - The Senate on Wednesday confirmed California judge Janice Rogers Brown for the federal appeals court, ending a two-year battle filled with accusations of racism and sexism and shadowed by a dispute over Democratic blocking tactics. Senators quickly followed by ending another long-term filibuster, clearing the way for a vote Thursday on former Alabama Attorney General William Pryor as outlined in an agreement last month that averted a showdown that could have brought Senate action to a halt.After giving Pryor a final vote and confirming two Michigan nominees to other appeals court posts, senators plan to leave President Bush's...

Not only is there a bright side for conservatives in the recent Senate “compromise” on Presidential appointments, but it’s hard to find any reason at all to justify celebration by liberal Democrats. President Bush’s long-stalled 5th Circuit nominee, Priscilla Owen, now sits on that federal bench, and confirmations of capable conservatives Janice Rogers Brown and William Pryor are soon to follow. Even the prospective nominations of William Meyers and Henry Saad have been sidetracked in thought only. Make no mistake – the dam has cracked and its eventual collapse is as easy as ever to see. The seven Republican signatories...

Conservatives have good reason to be unhappy with the agreement announced last night concerning the Senate’s judicial-confirmation process. The agreement does not guarantee up-or-down votes on all of President Bush’s judicial nominees, nor does it restore the Senate’s unswerving 214-year tradition of majority vote for all judicial nominees. In addition, the agreement attempts to rewrite Article II of the Constitution, by giving the Senate an advise-and-consent role in the nomination, as well as the appointment, of judges (see here and here for more). Our objectives are still within reach, however. As one of the signatories to the agreement made clear...

The Senate fight over President Bush's judicial nominees isn't just about their opinions -- it is also about their destinations. The contentious choices would tip the balance in some evenly split appellate courts, or could challenge the prevailing views of other panels on issues such as civil rights or environmental policy.... Democrats say the seven blocked Bush nominees could start a conservative shift in courts that aren't already tilted that way. "Balance on the court matters to us," said Sen. Charles Schumer of New York. "I've always felt a good court would have one [Justice Antonin] Scalia and one [former...

CAPITOL HILL The Senate Judiciary Committee has approved the last of four hotly disputed judicial nominees on a party line vote. The ten-to-eight vote sends acting appeals court Judge William Pryor's nomination to the Senate. Democrats blocked his nomination in President Bush's last term. But Bush gave him a temporary seat on the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta with a recess appointment. They've vowed to filibuster Pryor and three other Bush nominees this time around, too. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist has threatened to disallow future filibusters and force a vote on Pryor and the others. Democrats say...

Senate Judiciary Committee approves William Pryor for appointment to federal bench -- Bloomberg

Republican judges killed Terri -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted: May 9, 2005 1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2005 WorldNetDaily.com There's a good reason congressional Republicans will not hold investigative hearings on the judicial homicide of Terri Schiavo. Republican judges killed her, just as surely as the Democrat judges did. This is the dirty little secret that would be uncovered if Republican lawmakers scratched beneath the surface of how and why the 11th Circuit ignored the will of the people and the U.S. Congress and the president of the United States in refusing a full review of her case as decided by Republican county Judge...

It was November 2003 and Alabama Attorney General Bill Pryor was coming off a dismal week. In Alabama, Christian conservatives were seething at his role in booting Chief Justice Roy Moore from the Alabama Supreme Court. On Capitol Hill, Senate Democrats had repulsed another attempt to confirm Pryor for a lifetime judgeship on the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. But on a Saturday morning at a swank downtown Washington, D.C., hotel ballroom, dozens of lawyers were rising to their feet as the visibly moved Mobile native stepped to the front. The occasion was a national gathering of the...

One more reason in a long history that judicial appointments will not solve the problem of leftist judges and judicial tyranny was seen on Mar. 23, 2005, in the request for emergency rehearing of the 11th Circuit en banc of the case of Schiavo v. Schiavo when George W. Bush recess appointment William H. Pryor, Jr., voted AGAINST rehearing. Rather than joining in the cogent and spirited dissent of Judge Tjoflat or associating himself with the dissent of Judge Wilson (a Clinton appointee) in the original three-judge panel, he voted with the majority in the 10-2 denial of rehearing. Judge...

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected three challenges to President Bush's recess appointment last year of conservative former Alabama Attorney General William Pryor to a federal appeals court. Attorneys for several criminal defendants had argued the president can only make such an appointment during a recess at the end of the year between sessions of Congress, not during an adjournment in the middle of a congressional session like in Pryor's case. They also said the presidential power extended only to recess appointments for the executive branch of the government, not those for the federal judiciary, and that Bush's "unilateral"...

Senate Republicans are eyeing an April showdown over President Bush's judicial nominees that could end in a Senate rule change--known as the "nuclear" option--that forbids filibusters of presidential nominees. Judiciary Chairman Arlen Specter (R.-Pa.) is planning to act then on three conservative nominees: California Supreme Court Justice Janice Rogers Brown, Texas Supreme Court Justice Priscilla Owen and recess-appointed U.S. Circuit Judge William Pryor. None will require new hearings before a committee vote. Each was filibustered by Democrats in Bush's first term.

Senate Judiciary Chairman Arlen Specter (R.-Pa.) plans to usher judicial nominee William H. Pryor, Jr. through his committee without a new hearing, a committee aide told HUMAN EVENTS Monday. Senate Democrats blocked Pryor in two filibusters in July and November 2003. In an effort to circumvent the Democrats' opposition, President Bush gave Pryor a recess appointment to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Feb. 20, 2004. The appointment expires at the end of 2005 when Congress adjourns. Since taking his seat on the 11th Circuit, Pryor has authored "progressive" and "moderate" opinions, Specter said at a February 24...

(CNSNews.com) - A religious watchdog group is blasting the Bush administration for re-submitting the nominations of judges the group has urged the Senate to defeat. On Monday, Bush re-nominated 20 failed judicial nominees, some of which have been denounced by liberals as "right-wing extremists." Americans United for Separation of Church and State Tuesday criticized the Bush administration's "stubbornness" for re-submitting William Pryor and Janice Rogers Brown for nomination to the federal bench. "This administration is bent on radically re-making the federal bench," said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, Americans United executive director, in a press release. "No one can take...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 23 - President Bush plans to renominate 20 candidates for federal judgeships who have been unable to win confirmation in the Senate, the White House said today, in a signal that the president is ready for a showdown early next year. "An effective and efficient judicial system is vital to ensuring justice for all Americans," the White House said. "The president nominated highly qualified individuals to the federal courts during his first term, but the Senate failed to vote on many nominations." Senate Democrats have maintained for months that they have routinely confirmed nominees who are not right-wing...

Refusing to be brushed off by Democratic opposition in the Senate, President Bush plans to nominate for a second time 20 people who did not receive up or down votes on their nominations for federal judgeships. ...snip... When the 109th Congress convenes on Jan. 4, Bush intends to re-nominate the following 12 individuals for the U.S. Court of Appeals: Terrence W. Boyle, 4th Circuit; Priscilla Richman Owen, 5th Circuit; David W. McKeague, 6th Circuit; Susan Bieke Neilson, 6th Circuit; Henry W. Saad, 6th Circuit; Richard A. Griffin, 6th Circuit; William H. Pryor; 11th Circuit; William Gerry Myers III, 9th Circuit;...

A federal appeals court ruled Thursday that President Bush did not overstep his authority when he appointed William Pryor to the bench while the Senate was on a holiday break. The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a challenge by Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., who argued that the Alabama judge's appointment to the same court was an end-run around the Senate's right to confirm or reject the president's judicial nominees. Pryor was appointed to the 11th Circuit during the Presidents' Day recess in February, after the Senate refused twice to bring his nomination to a floor vote. His nomination had...

Until Wednesday afternoon, the significance of Judge William H. Pryor Jr.'s recess appointment to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was largely symbolic. His appointment by President Bush outraged senators who objected to Pryor's record on issues such as gay rights, abortion and federalism. As Alabama attorney general, Pryor defended statutes criminalizing homosexual sodomy, spoke out against decisions legalizing abortion and won cases trimming congressional power over the states. Democrats blocked a vote on his nomination, but the president's recess appointment will allow him to be on the court through 2005. Since Pryor joined the bench in February, his...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Sen. Edward Kennedy is trying for the third time to persuade the colleagues of federal appellate Judge William Pryor to bump him from the bench. The Massachusetts Democrat is asking the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta to rule that President Bush's appointment of Pryor in February during a congressional recess was unconstitutional. "Immediate consideration of this issue is critical: Judge Pryor has already sat or is scheduled to sit on over 60 cases, all of which may have to be reheard and re-decided if his appointment is ultimately adjudged invalid," Kennedy said in a...

<p>ATLANTA (AP) — Sen. Edward Kennedy lost a legal challenge to President Bush's appointment of former Alabama Attorney General Bill Pryor to a federal appeals judgeship.</p> <p>Pryor's appointment has been vigorously opposed by Democratic senators who have objected to his past comments and writings on abortion and homosexuality. After the Senate failed to confirm Pryor's appointment, Bush installed him on the 11th U.S. Circuit of Appeals on Feb. 20 as a "recess appointment," which does not require Senate confirmation.</p>

WASHINGTON — The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday denied Sen. Edward Kennedy's petition to file an amicus brief in three cases in order to challenge the constitutionality of Judge William Pryor's recess appointment. Kennedy, however, has vowed to keep challenging Pryor's appointment. "It's disappointing that the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit declined to consider, at least for now, the constitutionality of President Bush's recess appointment of William Pryor to that court in February," Kennedy said in a statement.

Slate columnist Timothy Noah speaks with former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore, who gained national recognition for placing a monument to the Ten Commandments in the courthouse lobby in defiance of a court order. Moore discusses issues ranging from gay marriage, the separation of church and state and his own political ambitions.

Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) has asked his staff to put together a case that he hopes will prove that President Bush’s recess appointment of Alabama Attorney General William Pryor to the U.S. Court of Appeals was unconstitutional. At issue is whether the 10-day period when Congress was away constituted a “recess” in which such appointments are provided for in the Constitution. Some constitutional scholars believe that the Founding Fathers may have been referring to the far lengthier recess periods that occur between sessions and Congresses. Recesses lasting many months were common in the early days of the Republic, before the...

<p>Last Friday, President Bush announced the recess appointment of Alabama Attorney General William H. Pryor to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. This is Mr. Bush's second recess appointment to a judgeship in two months, and only the third such appointment by a president since 1980. Considering that the highly qualified Judge Pryor had no chance of beating a Democratic filibuster, we are happy to see the president make this rare but necessary move. After resigning his position as Alabama attorney general on Friday, Judge Pryor called the moment "bittersweet." We would have to agree.</p>

Bill Pryor Got His Judas Money By Chuck Baldwin February 25, 2004 According to news reports, "President Bush used a recess appointment Friday [Feb. 20] to give Alabama Attorney General Bill Pryor a seat on the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals temporarily. Pryor was sworn in by U.S. Circuit Judge Ed Carnes in a private ceremony in Alabama Friday. His appointment is expected to last until the end of 2005." Faithful readers of this column know that Pryor was the political Judas who turned against Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore after promising former Alabama Governor Fob James and...

LAW OF THE LANDPryor appointment divides conservativesSome hail Bush move, others stew over AG's targeting of Roy Moore Posted: February 24, 20041:00 a.m. Eastern © 2004 WorldNetDaily.com While many conservatives cheered President Bush's recess appointment of former Alabama Attorney General William Pryor to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, others are still smarting from the new jurist's actions targeting Judge Roy Moore over the Ten Commandments. Alabama Attorney General Bill Pryor (Photo: WSFA.com) Bush made the appointment Friday, bypassing a Democratic filibuster of Pryor's nomination, which had languished for nearly a year. The action places the 41-year-old on the court until 2005,...

Pryor sworn in as judge Bush appoints attorney general to 11th Circuit while Congress is away 02/21/04 MARY ORNDORFF News Washington correspondent WASHINGTON - Alabama Attorney General Bill Pryor was sworn in Friday as a federal judge just minutes after President Bush sidestepped a sharply divided U.S. Senate and placed him in the job while Congress was on break. Pryor stepped down as attorney general and can now start hearing cases with the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, an Atlanta-based court one level below the U.S. Supreme Court. From Our Advertiser "His impressive record demonstrates his devotion to the...

Bush to again use recess appointment for judicial nominee01:56 PM CST on Friday, February 20, 2004Associated Press WASHINGTON - Bypassing Senate Democrats who have stalled his judicial nominations, President Bush will use a recess appointment to put Alabama Attorney General William Pryor on the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at least temporarily, government sources said Friday. The White House began informing senators Friday afternoon of Bush's intention, said one Senate source, speaking on condition of anonymity. Two White House officials, also speaking on condition of anonmity, confirmed Bush's plan to install Pryor, and said a paper announcement was likely...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Bypassing Senate Democrats who have stalled his judicial nominations, President Bush installed Alabama Attorney General William Pryor on the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday. Bush praised Pryor as "this leading American lawyer" and complained that the Senate had unfairly blocked him and other White House nominees."A minority of Democratic senators has been using unprecedented obstructionist tactics to prevent him and other qualified nominees from receiving up-or-down votes," Bush said. "Their tactics are inconsistent with the Senate's constitutional responsibility and are hurting our judicial system."Pryor was immediately sworn in in Alabama.The White House had...

This morning, we know for sure: the Senate Republicans are serious about President Bush’s judicial nominees. There had been some question. Up until 6 PM last night, all the Majority Leader Bill Frist and his staff had to offer was talk. We heard from the Senator’s senior advisor that Frist had an “itchy trigger finger” to get something done about the nominees being filibustered by his Democrat colleagues. Months ago, they told us to “get ready for hardball.” Even before that, it was “Anything is possible, nothing is off the table.” And so when Frist’s staff told us last week,...

<p>We hope 100 men and women in Washington got a good sleep last night because they aren't likely to catch a lot of ZZZs tonight or tomorrow. They'll be participants in the Senate GOP's plan to stage a 30-hour talkathon on the Democrats' unprecedented filibuster of President Bush's judicial nominees.</p>

July 30, 2003, 8:45 a.m. The GOP crosses a line in the fight over the Pryor nomination. On Thursday the Senate will vote on a motion to end debate on the federal appeals-court nomination of William Pryor. If Republicans prevail, the Senate will then move to an up-or-down vote on Pryor's confirmation. It's far more likely, however, that Democrats will block a confirmation vote, beginning a filibuster of Pryor's nomination. Pryor will then become the third Bush appeals-court nominee, along with Miguel Estrada and Priscilla Owen, to face a Democratic filibuster. In one sense, Republicans are grateful it has come...

Democratic opposition to Alabama Attorney General William Pryor, whom President Bush nominated to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, is based on bias against traditional religious beliefs, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) has charged. In his hearing before the committee last week, Pryor denounced abortion rather than veiling his views as other embattled Bush nominees have been accused of doing. The Pryor nomination raises the question of whether Bush's conservative-minded nominees are better off speaking out on their views, as the 41-year-old Catholic has done, or avoiding comment on the grounds that it could involve future cases that...

The attorney general of Alabama is the most refreshing thing to happen to Washington since William Faulkner said the reason he wouldn't be going to President Kennedy's Nobel prize-winner party at the White House was that Washington was a long way to go for dinner. Listen to William Pryor being grilled by Senator Feingold. The senator was fishing about trying to add to Mr. Pryor's list of disqualifications to serve as judge. Wasn't Mr. Pryor associated with the Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA), which made contributions to Republican contenders for election as attorneys general? FEINGOLD. Will you provide to...