Well, he's finally "officially" on the Federal bench (for life) - what says the 'Bama crew???
Pryor on court for life
By Ana Radelat, Montgomery Advertiser
WASHINGTON -- After more than two years of acrimonious debate over his fitness for the bench, former Alabama Attorney General William Pryor was confirmed by the Senate on Thursday.
The Senate's 53-45 vote to confirm Pryor gives him a lifetime seat on the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals based in Atlanta. During a congressional recess last year, President Bush appointed Pryor to a temporary seat on the court.
In a written statement, Pryor thanked Bush and Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Mobile, Pryor's staunchest supporter in the Senate, for their unflagging support of his troubled candidacy.
"I can think of no greater honor or weightier responsibility for an American lawyer than to serve as a federal judge, who is bound to support and defend the Constitution of our beloved nation," Pryor said. "By God's grace, I will continue to give this duty my best effort."
Bush said that during his short time on the appellate court Pryor "has built on an impressive career of public service in which he has applied the law fairly and impartially to all people."
"I commend the Senate for fulfilling its constitutional responsibility to vote on Judge Pryor and for confirming him so that he will continue his service on this court," Bush said.
Hours of debate about Pryor's perceived virtues and failings preceded the confirmation vote.
Sessions said allegations that Pryor has a poor record on civil rights and women's rights were totally unfounded.
"He will stand in there and do the right thing, no matter what others might say time and time again, and his record demonstrates it," Sessions said. "His overriding belief is that the law is pre-eminent and that it should be obeyed, even if he might disagree and would like to see it differently," Sessions said.
Opponents of the nomination kept up their criticism of the often outspoken Pryor.
"His views are at the extreme right wing of legal thinking," said Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass. "It's clear from his record that he doesn't deserve confirmation to a lifetime seat on an appellate court."
A broad coalition of interest groups also opposed Pryor's nomination. It included People for the American Way, the Sierra Club, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and Planned Parenthood.
Alliance for Justice President Nan Aron accused the president of trying to "pack the courts with agenda-driven, partisan activists."
"Bill Pryor's record has something to offend nearly every constituency," she said.
Saying he was too conservative, Democrats had stalled a confirmation vote for Pryor using a Senate procedure known as a filibuster, or extended debate.
While the GOP has a 55-member majority in the Senate, it lacked the 60 votes needed to end the filibuster until a group of moderate Republican and Democratic senators made a deal last month.
They agreed to hold confirmation votes on the nominations of Pryor and other controversial judges, including Janice Rogers Brown, a California Supreme Court justice who was born in Greenville, and Texas Judge Priscilla Owen. The Senate voted to end the filibuster on Pryor on Wednesday evening.
In his confirmation vote, Pryor received less support than either Brown, who was confirmed 55-43 Wednesday, or Owen, confirmed 56-43 last month.
The vote on Pryor's candidacy largely was along party lines.
Three Republicans, Sens. Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island , and Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine, voted against Pryor's confirmation. He picked up the support of two Democrats, Sens. Ken Salazar of Colorado and Ben Nelson of Nebraska.
Pryor, a staunch abortion foe, was criticized for knocking the Supreme Court's Roe vs. Wade abortion decision. Senate Democrats also took issue with his efforts to repeal part of the Civil Rights Act and his comparison of homosexual acts to "prostitution, adultery, necrophilia, bestiality, possession of child pornography and even incest and pedophilia" in a friend-of-the-court brief he filed with the Supreme Court in a Texas case.
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