[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 14]
[Senate]
[Pages 19601-19604]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      NOMINATION OF WILLIAM PRYOR

  Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, I rise in support of the nomination of 
William Pryor to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. Mr. Pryor was 
No. 1 in his class at Tulane University Law School. He is a magna cum 
laude of Tulane University School of Law where he was editor and chief 
of the Tulane Law Review, something that very few lawyers have the 
privilege of saying. He then clerked for Judge John Minor Wisdom for 
the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, a civil rights legend who 
helped implement desegregation in the South.
  While working at two of Alabama's top private law firms, he was the 
adjunct professor of law at Samford University Cumberland School of 
Law. In 1995, then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions, current Senator from 
Alabama, hired him as Deputy Attorney General, and in 1997 he was 
appointed to serve out Senator Sessions' term.
  In 1998, Alabamians elected General Pryor to this position. He was 
reelected in 2002 with the remarkable 59 percent of the vote.
  Let me share some of the letters that prominent Democrats have 
written about General Pryor. Joe Reed, chairman of the Alabama 
Democratic Conference, which is the State's African-American caucus, 
writes that General Pryor ``will uphold the law without fear or favor. 
I believe all races and colors will get a fair shake when their cases 
come before him . . . I am a member of the Democratic National 
Committee and, of course, General Pryor is a Republican, but these are 
only party labels. I am persuaded that in General Pryor's eyes, Justice 
has only one label--Justice!''
  Judge Sue Bell Cobb, who sits on the Alabama Court of Criminal 
Appeals, stated:

       I write, not only as the only statewide Democrat to be 
     elected in 2000, not only as a member of the Court which 
     reviews the greatest portion of General Pryor's work, but 
     also as a child advocate who has labored shoulder to shoulder 
     with General Pryor in the political arena on behalf of 
     Alabama's children. It is for these reasons and more that I 
     am indeed honored to recommend General Pryor for nomination 
     to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.

  And Congressman Artur Davis encouraged President Bush to nominate 
General Pryor, declaring his belief that ``Alabama will be proud of his 
service.''
  I will submit copies of these letters for the Record, along with 
copies of the other many letters from Democrats and Republicans, men 
and women, and members of Africa-American, Jewish, and Christian 
communities who support Bill Pryor's nomination.
  It is fundamental that a State attorney general has the obligation to 
represent and defend the laws and interests of this State. General 
Pryor has fulfilled this responsibility admirably by repeatedly 
defending the public first and the laws and policies enacted by the 
Alabama legislature. But one of the reasons for the broad spectrum of 
support for General Pryor is his demonstrated ability to set aside his 
personal views and follow the law. As you will undoubtedly hear during 
the course of the debate on his nomination, General Pryor is no 
shrinking violet. He has been open and honest about his personal 
beliefs, which is what voters expect from the persons whom they elect 
to represent them. Yet General Pryor has shown again and again that 
when the law conflicts with his personal and political beliefs, he 
follows the law.
  For example, in 1997, the Alabama legislature enacted a ban on 
partial birth abortion that could have been interpreted to prohibit 
abortions before viability. General Pryor is avowedly pro-life, and has 
strongly criticized Roe v. Wade, so one might very well have expected 
General Pryor to vigorously enforce the statute. Instead, he instructed 
law enforcement officials to enforce the law only insofar as it was 
consistent with the Supreme Court's precedents of Casey and Stenberg v. 
Carhart--despite pressure from many Republicans to enforce broader 
language in the act.
  Here's another example: I am sure that we will hear General Pryor's 
call for modification or repeal of section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, 
which requires Department of Justice preclearance. By the way, General 
Pryor is not alone in his opinion of section 5; the Democratic Attorney 
General of Georgia, Thurbert Baker, has called section 5 an 
``extraordinary transgression of the normal prerogatives of the 
states.'' Despite his opinion that section 5 is flawed, General Pryor 
successfully defended before the Supreme Court several majority-
minority voting districts approved under section 5 from a challenge by 
a group of white Alabama voters. He also issued an opinion that the use 
of stickers to replace one candidate's name with another on a ballot 
required preclearance under section 5. In other words, he upheld a law 
that he thinks is legally flawed and politically flawed. In other 
words, this man will abide by the law in spite of his personal beliefs.
  Yet another example involves General Pryor's interpretation of the 
First Amendment's Establishment Clause. In an effort to defeat 
challenges to school prayer and the display of the Ten Commandments in 
the Alabama Supreme Court, both the Governor and the Chief Justice 
urged General Pryor to argue that the Bill of Rights does not apply to 
the States. General Pryor refused, despite his own deeply held Catholic 
faith and personal support for both of these issues.

[[Page 19602]]

  And here's my final example: General Pryor supported the right of 
teachers to serve as state legislators, despite intense pressure from 
his own party, because he believed that the Alabama Constitution 
allowed them to do so. This man follows the law, regardless of his 
personal beliefs. That is all you can ask of a judicial official and of 
somebody who is nominated to a Circuit Court of Appeals in this 
country.
  These examples, and I can give others, aptly illustrate why General 
Pryor's nomination enjoys broad bipartisan support from persons like 
former Democratic Alabama Attorney General Bill Baxley. He observed of 
General Pryor:

       In every difficult decision he has made, his actions were 
     supported by his interpretation of the law, without race, 
     gender, age, political power, wealth, community standing, or 
     any other competing interest affecting judgment.

  That is pretty high praise coming from a Leading Democrat, one of his 
predecessors.
  Mr. Baxley continued,

       I often disagree, politically, with Bill Pryor. This does 
     not prevent me from making this recommendation because we 
     need fair minded, intelligent, industrious men and women, 
     possessed of impeccable integrity on the Eleventh Circuit. 
     Bill Pryor has these qualities in abundance. . . . There is 
     no better choice for this vacancy.

  During the course of this debate, we will hear many things about Bill 
Pryor. We will hear many one-sided half-truths perpetuated by the usual 
liberal interest groups who will stop at nothing to defeat President 
Bush's judicial nominees. I want to make sure that this debate is about 
fairness, and about telling the full story of Bill Pryor's record.
  We will hear that General Pryor is a devout pro-life Catholic who has 
criticized Roe v. Wade, but the rest of the story is that many 
prominent prochoice Democrats, such as Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 
Archibold Cox and former Stanford Dean John Hart Ely have also 
criticized Roe without anyone questioning their recognition of it as 
binding Supreme Court precedent.
  We will hear claims that General Pryor is against the disabled and 
elderly, but the real story is that General Pryor has done his duty as 
Attorney General to defend his State's budget from costly lawsuits. 
Other state attorneys general, including respected Democrats like Bob 
Butterworth of Florida and now Senator Mark Pryor of Arkansas, have 
taken the same positions as General Pryor in defending their States. 
While the Supreme Court agreed with the attorneys general in these 
cases that the Eleventh Amendment protects States from monetary damages 
in Federal court, these rulings did not affect--and General Pryor did 
not seek to weaken--other important methods of redressing 
discrimination, like actions for monetary damages under state law, 
injunctive relief, or back pay.
  We will hear claims that General Pryor's criticisms of Section 5 of 
the Voting Rights Act indicate a lack of commitment to civil rights. 
That is pure and simple, unmitigated bunk. But the real story is that 
General Pryor has a solid record of commitment to civil rights, which 
includes defending majority-minority voting districts, leading the 
battle to abolish the Alabama Constitution's prohibition on interracial 
marriage, and working with the Clinton Administration's Justice 
Department to prosecute the former Ku Klux Klansmen who perpetrated the 
bombing of Birmingham's 16th Street Baptist Church, which resulted in 
the deaths of four little girls in 1963.
  We will no doubt hear other claims during the course of this debate 
distorting General Pryor's record or presenting only partial truths. I 
urge my colleagues to judge this nominee on his record, not on the 
distortions we too often hear about President Bush's nominees. He will 
make a fine addition to the Eleventh Circuit.
  I ask unanimous consent that the letters to which I have referred be 
printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

    William H. Pryor, Jr. To Be United States Circuit Judge for the 
                            Eleventh Circuit


                           letters of support


                                Alabama Democratic Conference,

                                 Montgomery, AL, January 27, 2003.
     The President,
     The White House,
     Washington, DC.
       Dear Mr. President: Through the news media, it has come to 
     my attention that you now have under consideration Attorney 
     General Bill Pryor for appointment as Circuit Judge to the 
     United States 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, of which Alabama 
     is a part. I take this unusual opportunity to urge you to 
     appoint him.
       Attorney General Pryor will make a first-class Judge 
     because he is a first-class lawyer and is a first-class 
     public official. He is a person, in my opinion, who will 
     uphold the law without fear or favor. I believe all races and 
     colors will get a fair shake when their cases come before 
     him. As Attorney General for Alabama during the past six (6) 
     years, he has been fair to all people.
       For your information, I am a member of the Democratic 
     National Committee and, of course, Mr. Pryor is Republican, 
     but these are only party labels. I am persuaded that in Mr. 
     Pryor's eyes, Justice has only one label--Justice.
       I am satisfied that if you appoint Mr. Pryor to the Bench, 
     and he is confirmed by the Senate, he will be a credit to the 
     Judiciary and will be a guardian for justice. I urge you to 
     appoint Mr. Pryor to this important court.
           Sincerely,
                                                      Joe L. Reed,
     Chairman.
                                  ____

                                        Court of Criminal Appeals,


                                             State of Alabama,

                                 Montgomery, AL, January 21, 2003.
     Hon. George W. Bush,
     The White House,
     Washington, DC.
       Dear Mr. President: I have had the good fortune to 
     recommend a variety of people for a variety of positions. 
     Never have I been more honored or confident about a 
     recommendation than I am as I write on behalf of my dear 
     friend and Alabama Attorney General, Bill Pryor.
       In November of 2000, both you and I were on the ballot. As 
     I stood for reelection for my second term on the Alabama 
     Court of Criminal Appeals, I became the only statewide 
     Democrat to survive the 2000 election. Hence, I write, not 
     only as the only statewide Democrat to be elected in 2000, 
     not only as a member of the Court which reviews the greatest 
     portion of General Pryor's work, but also as a child advocate 
     who has labored shoulder to shoulder with General Pryor in 
     the political arena on behalf of Alabama's children. It is 
     for these reasons and more that I am indeed honored to 
     recommend General Pryor for nomination to the 11th Circuit 
     Court of Appeals.
       Bill Pryor is an outstanding attorney general and is one of 
     the most righteous elected officials in this state. He 
     possesses two of the most important attributes of a judge; 
     unquestionable integrity and a strong internal moral compass. 
     Whether he is reviewing hundreds of appellate briefs to 
     ensure the quality of the work his assistants submit to this 
     court, whether he is preparing to argue one of my cases to 
     the United States Supreme Court. Whether he is using his 
     considerable influence to encourage Alabama legislators to 
     make children a top priority, or whether he is in his weekly 
     tutoring session with an ``at-risk'' child, Bill Pryor is 
     proving that he is a true public servant.
       Bill Pryor is exceedingly bright, and a lawyer's lawyer. He 
     is as dedicated to the ``Rule of Law'' as anyone I know. I 
     have never known another attorney general who loved being the 
     ``people's lawyer'' more than Bill Pryor. Though we may 
     disagree on an issue, I am always confident that his position 
     is the product of complete intellectual honesty. He loves the 
     mental challenge presented by a complex case, yet he never 
     fails to remember that each case impacts people's lives.
       A sportscaster once said about a former Atlanta Braves 
     player, Terry Pendleton, ``[H]e does the right thing, because 
     it is the right thing to do.'' That, Mr. President, perfectly 
     describes Bill Pryor. Hence, it is my profound honor to urge 
     you to nominate a great Alabamian, General Bill Pryor, to the 
     11th Circuit Court of Appeals.
       I would be honored to assist you in any way in making 
     General Pryor's nomination and confirmation a reality. With 
     best regards, I remain,
           Most Sincerely,
                                                    Sue Bell Cobb,
     Judge.
                                  ____

                                    Congress of the United States,


                                     House of Representatives,

                                 Washington, DC, January 10, 2003.
     Hon. Jeff Sessions,
     U.S. Senate,
     Russell Senate Office Building,
     Washington, DC.
       Dear Senator Sessions: Thank you for all of your kindness 
     during the transition period. You and the rest of the Alabama 
     Delegation have made me feel very welcome

[[Page 19603]]

       As you know, several pending vacancies on the Alabama 
     federal bench are attracting attention back home. I 
     understand that the President may be considering Attorney 
     General Bill Pryor for a seat on the Eleventh Circuit. I have 
     the utmost respect for my friend Attorney General Pryor and I 
     believe if he is selected, Alabama will be proud of his 
     service.
       In the near future, as openings occur on the District 
     Court, I encourage you to view this as an opportunity to 
     diversify the federal bench. Unfortunately only two African 
     Americans have ever served as federal district judges in 
     Alabama. I believe that a review of the most qualified 
     judicial candidates will inevitably lead to the inclusion of 
     black attorneys. I strongly encourage you to consider 
     recommending for nomination several outstanding black 
     attorneys who have distinguished themselves. I know you would 
     agree that Alabama deserves a federal bench that looks like 
     Alabama.
       Thank you very much for your attention to this matter. I 
     look forward to working together over the coming months and 
     years.
           Best wishes,
                                                      Artur Davis,
     Member of Congress.
                                  ____

                                        Baxley, Dillard, Dauphin &


                                   McKnight, Attorneys at Law,

                                    Birmingham, AL, April 8, 2003.
     Hon. Jeff Sessions,
     Russell Senate Office Building,
     Washington, DC.
       Dear Senator Sessions: Media reports confirm that Alabama's 
     Attorney General, Bill Pryor, has been nominated to fill the 
     vacancy which now exists on the Eleventh Circuit.
       As you well know, I too am a former Attorney General of our 
     great state. I therefore feel comfortable assessing Bill 
     Pryor's service in that elected office, as well as his 
     fitness to serve the United States as a Circuit Judge. As a 
     Democrat, I am certain I have a more unbiased frame of 
     reference than many. As a lawyer with a diverse practice in 
     Alabama--one which has seen me aligned with him on some 
     occasions and against him on others--I have a better basis 
     than most for gauging his character, fitness and ability.
       Bill Pryor is a completely independent man of unwavering 
     convictions. He courageously takes positions dictated by his 
     conscience and does so based upon a truly intellectual sense 
     of right and wrong. In this regard, his willingness to be 
     guided by pure interpretations of the law superbly qualifies 
     him for the federal bench. He has never, to my knowledge, 
     bowed to any pressure from constituents or special interest 
     groups. In every difficult decision he has made, his actions 
     were supported by his interpretation of the law, without 
     race, gender, age, political power, wealth, community 
     standing, or any other competing interest affecting his 
     judgment. This is a rare accomplishment, and the core reason 
     for this, my highest and best recommendation.
       I often disagree, politically, with Bill Pryor. This does 
     not prevent me from making this recommendation because we 
     need fair minded, intelligent, industrious men and women, 
     possessed of impeccable integrity, on the Eleventh Circuit. 
     Bill Pryor has these qualities in abundance. I am certain he 
     will be guided completely by his conscience and afford a 
     balanced analysis to every case before him, without unfair 
     advantage to any litigant. There is no better choice for this 
     vacancy.
           Respectfully yours,
     William J. Baxley.
                                  ____

                                                Department of Law,


                                             State of Georgia,

                                                   March 31, 2003.
     Hon. Richard Shelby,
     U.S. Senate, Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, DC.
     Hon. Jeff Sessions,
     U.S. Senate, Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, DC.
       Dear Senators: I have had the great pleasure of knowing and 
     working with Bill Pryor over the past five years. Through the 
     National Association of Attorneys General, Bill and I have 
     worked together on matters of mutual concern to Georgia and 
     Alabama. During that time, Bill has distinguished himself 
     time and again with the legal acumen that he brings to issues 
     of national or regional concern as well as with his 
     commitment to furthering the prospects of good and responsive 
     government.
       During is tenure as Attorney General, Bill has made 
     combating white-collar crime and public corruption one of the 
     centerpieces of his service to the people of Alabama. He 
     joined the efforts of Attorneys General around the country in 
     fighting the rising tide of identity theft, pushing through 
     legislation in the Alabama legislature making identity theft 
     a felony in Alabama. Bill has fought to keep law enforcement 
     in Alabama armed with appropriate laws to protect Alabama's 
     citizens, pushing for tough money laundering provisions and 
     stiff penalties for trafficking in date rape drugs.
       Time and again as Attorney General, Bill has taken on 
     public corruption cases in Alabama, regardless of how well-
     connected the defendant many be, to ensure that the public 
     trust is upheld and the public's confidence in government is 
     well-founded. He has worked with industry groups and the 
     Better Business Bureau to crack down on unscrupulous 
     contractors who victimized many of Alabama's more vulnerable 
     citizens.
       From the time that he clerked with the late Judge Wisdom of 
     the 5th Circuit to the present, though, the most critical 
     asset that Bill Pryor has brought to the practice of law is 
     his zeal to do what he thinks is right. He has always done 
     what he thought was best for the people of Alabama. 
     Recognizing a wrong that had gone on far too long, he took 
     the opportunity of his inaugural address to call on an end to 
     the ban on inter-racial marriages in Alabama law. Concerned 
     about at-risk kids in Alabama schools, he formed Mentor 
     Alabama, a program designed to pair volunteer mentors with 
     students who needed a role model and an attentive ear to the 
     problems facing them on a daily basis.
       These are just a few of the qualities that I believe will 
     make Bill Pryor an excellent candidate for a slot on the 11th 
     Circuit Court of Appeals. My only regret is that I will no 
     longer have Bill as a fellow Attorney General fighting for 
     what is right, but I know that his work on the bench will 
     continue to serve as an example of how the public trust 
     should be upheld.
           Sincerely,
     Thurbert E. Baker.
                                  ____

                                                 State of Alabama,


                                     House of Representatives,

                                     Montgomery, AL, June 5, 2003.
     Hon. Orrin G. Hatch,
     Chairman, Committee on the Judiciary, U.S. Senate, Hart 
         Office Building, Washington, DC.
     Hon. Patrick J. Leahy,
     Ranking Member, Committee on the Judiciary, U.S. Senate, 
         Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, DC.
       Dear Sirs: Please accept this as my full support and 
     endorsement of Alabama's Attorney General Bill Pryor to the 
     United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit.
       I am a black member of the Alabama House of Representatives 
     having served for 28 years. During my time of service in the 
     Alabama House of Representatives I have led most of the 
     fights for civil rights of blacks, women, lesbians and gays 
     and other minorities.
       Consider Bill Pryor as a moderate on the race issue:
       1. From 1998 to 2000, Bill Pryor sided with the NAACP 
     against a white Republican lawsuit that challenged the 
     districts for the Legislature. Pryor fought the case all the 
     way to the U.S. Supreme Court and won a unanimous ruling in 
     Sinkfield v. Kelley, 531 U.S. 28 (2000). The lawsuit was 
     filed by Attorney Mark Montiel, a white Republican, and the 
     3-judge district court ruled 2 to 1 in favor of Montiel. Two 
     Republicans (Cox and Albritton) ruled in favor of Montiel 
     while Judge Myron Thompson (a black Democrat) agreed with 
     Pryor that Montiel's white clients had no standing to 
     challenge black districts in which the whites did not live.
       2. In 2001 and 2002, Bill Pryor sided with the Legislature 
     when it redrew districts for Congress, the Legislature, and 
     State Board of Education. Mark Montiel filed lawsuits in 
     federal court (Montiel v. Davis) challenging the black 
     districts as racial gerrymanders. Pryor won every lawsuit. 
     Pryor came under heavy pressure from other white Republicans 
     in Alabama for fighting to protect black Legislative seats.
       3. Bill Pryor worked with U.S. Attorney Doug Jones to 
     prosecute KKK murderers Blanton and Cherry for the September 
     14, 1963, bombing of Sixteenth Street Baptist Church that 
     killed four little girls. Bill Pryor personally argued to 
     uphold Blanton's conviction before the Alabama Court of 
     Criminal Appeals on May 20, 2003.
       4. Bill Pryor drafted the law (Ala. Code Sec. 12-25-
     2(a)(2)) that created the Alabama Sentencing Commission with 
     the stated purpose of ending racial disparities in criminal 
     punishments.
       5. In 2000, Bill Pryor started Mentor Alabama--a program to 
     recruit positive adult role models for thousands of at-risk 
     youth which were 99% black. For the last three years, Bill 
     Pryor has worked every week as a reading tutor for black 
     children in a Montgomery public school.
       6. In 2002, I introduced a bill in the Alabama Legislature 
     to amend the Alabama Constitution repealing Alabama's racist 
     ban on interracial marriage. Every prominent white political 
     leader in Alabama (both Republican and Democrat) opposed my 
     bill or remained silent except Bill Pryor who openly and 
     publicly asked the white and black citizens of Alabama to 
     vote and repeal such racist law. It was passed with a slim 
     majority among the voters and Bill Pryor later successfully 
     defended that repeal when the leader of a racist group called 
     the ``Confederate Heritage'' sued the State to challenge it.
       7. I sponsored HB534 this Legislative Session establishing 
     cross burning as a felony. Said bill passed the Alabama House 
     of Representatives on May 15th 2003. That bill was written by 
     Bill Pryor and he was the only white leader in Alabama that 
     openly and publicly supported it.
       Finally, as one of the key civil rights leaders in Alabama 
     who has participated in basically every major civil rights 
     demonstration in America, who has been arrested for civil 
     rights causes on many occasions, as one who was a field staff 
     member of Dr. Martin Luther King's SCLC, as one who has been 
     brutally beaten by vicious police officers for

[[Page 19604]]

     participating in civil rights marches and demonstrations, as 
     one who has had crosses burned in his front yard by the KKK 
     and other hate groups, as one who has lived under constant 
     threats day in and day out because of his stand fighting for 
     the rights of blacks and other minorities, I request your 
     swift confirmation of Bill Pryor to the 11th Circuit because 
     of his constant efforts to help the causes of blacks in 
     Alabama.
       Thanks for your consideration.
           Sincerely,
                                                     Alvin Holmes,
     State Representative.
                                  ____



                                                  Herc Levine,

                                     Birmingham, AL, June 5, 2003.
     Hon. Orrin Hatch,
     Chairman, Committee on the Judiciary, Dirksen Building, 
         Washington, DC.
       Dear Chairman Hatch: As an active and proud member of the 
     Birmingham Jewish Community, I was disappointed by the 
     decision of the National Council of Jewish Women and the 
     Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism to oppose the 
     nomination of Attorney General Bill Pryor to the 11th Circuit 
     Court of Appeals bench. While I doubt that these groups have 
     taken the time to sit down and talk with Attorney General 
     Pryor, I am proud to say that he has my support and the 
     support of many in the Alabama Jewish Community because of 
     his personal integrity and commitment to insure that all of 
     our citizens are treated fairly and receive equal justice 
     under the law. He has been a true friend to the Alabama 
     Jewish Community on many important issues.
       Attorney General Pryor has a distinguished career as a 
     public servant, practicing attorney and law professor, and is 
     highly qualified to serve on the Federal bench. He has a well 
     deserved reputation for fairness and competency that cuts 
     across party lines and which has resulted in overwhelming 
     support from Alabamians of all political parties and segments 
     of our society. His distinguished record as Attorney General 
     affirms my belief that he will serve with great distinction 
     as a Federal judge.
           Very truly yours,
     Herc Levine.

                          ____________________