Posted on 01/27/2006 1:29:36 PM PST by areafiftyone
Friday, January 27, 2006 - 1:19:30 PMBREAKING: Pryor will vote 'no' on Alito
U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor will vote against the confirmation of Samuel Alito to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Pryor said he was satisfied that Alito was qualified and possessed the proper judicial temperament. But there’s a third criterion, he said. “Can he be fair and impartial if he’s on the United States Supreme Court? And would he be an activist, would he legislate from the bench, would he come with an agenda? I spent a lot of time looking at that. I must say when it comes to the question of whether Samuel Alito will be fair and impartial, I have doubts, I have reservations.” So he said, while it was a close call, he would vote no.
He added, without prompting, that he did not support a filibuster against Alito because “one is not warranted.” As a member of the bipartisan Gang of 14 that earlier had preserved filibuster as a potential option in case of “extraordinary circumstances,” he said that clearly wasn't the case with Alito.
Pressed by reporters for specific objections, Pryor spoke of one area "troubling" to him. "He tends to favor the expansion of presidential power and I believe in the Constitution's checks and balances. I'm not saying he doesn't either. But I'm concerned that over time he might chip away at those checks and balances and allow the exeuctive power to expand until it's supreme over the other branches."
Pryor said Alito will be confirmed Tuesday. He said he hopes he can apologize to Alito in five years for being wrong about his vote.
Pryor noted he'd voted for more than 90 percent of the president's judicial nominations, including Chief Justice John Roberts. In Roberts' case, Pryor said, "At the end of that process I just didn't have any doubts about his ability to be fair and impartial."
Reactions: Family Council says it's a mystery. Republican Party says it's "disappointing" to have Pryor and Lincoln "cater to Ted Kennedy."
Exactly. Come on Arkansas Conservatives....get these people out of office. Also, put the pressure on for them to change their votes.
Pryor is a Dem.
That's what I was thinking but didn't check out and I couldn't figure out why a Republican Party is concerned with him lining himself up with Lincoln?
The monument in the Alabama Supreme Court lobby that included an engraving of the Ten Commandments. Judge Roy Moore, etc.
Yes I know about that but that wasn't my question...
It was what did Sen. Mark Pryor of AR have to do with the monument case?.... Nothing that I'm aware of so my question. Maybe the Pryor you are thinking of may have been Judge Bill Pryor, 11th Circuit who was also AG in AL at one time. Two different people or else I'm confused about your monument comment... It really doesn't matter at this stage anyway...
Thanks, take care and have a nice one....
I'm confused. Isn't that third criterion Pryor is talking about part of proper judicial temperament?
What happened? Ginsberg gets a pass, and this guy is hung out to dry. There seems to be a serious disconnect with reality with one of the major parties here.
This is me:
I thought I read Alabama not Arkansas. Der...
I had hopes that Pryor was a 'different kind' of democrat. I was wrong. Dance, Postman, dance/.
When is Pryor up for re-election? Can the RNC run ads in Arkansas (a firmly red state) linking Mark Pryor to the radical leftist extremism of Ted Kennedy?
You're right. That is the most important thing. As far as passing the Senate goes, his "No" vote is meaningless. But it should still be used against him though. Arkansas voters need to understand how leftist the Democrat PArty is.
And what did he have to say about Justice Ginsberg when she was approved??!!
LOL.... well we all do that at times and sometimes I do it more than I should. I suspected you had it confused but then I thought maybe I had missed something in the Moore thing as I actually didn't follow it real closely. But in any case Sen. Pryor is a democrat and it appears is going to follow the democrat line....
You have a good one...... Hopefully by noon Tuesday Judge Alito will be a member of the SCOTUS...
There have been quite a few radio commericals recently urging voters to call Lincoln and Pryor and tell them to vote yes for Alito. More or less left the impression if they vote with the liberals like Ted Kennedy then they also support the same issues like partial birth abortion, gay marriage, etc., and explains that these issues are the reason the liberals are against Alito. They will not be able to fool the people of Arkansas after this--they are NOT "conservative democrats"...those animals are more or less extinct now.
He's up in 2008, and Blanche Lincoln in 2010.
Thanks.... you'd think the electorate would be supportive of Alito in AR
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