"Pryor is worse than Brown" -- discuss.

[The Witch]

Where Brown was anti-consumer, Pryor is anti-choice (and not just in the abortion sense).

Pryor's views on separation of church and state are horrendous.

He aims to "preserve the American experiment by restoring its Christian perspective."

He's absolutely homophobic.

Pryor argued that a "constitutional right that protects `the choice of one’s partner’ and `whether and how to connect sexually’ must logically extend to activities like prostitution, adultery, necrophilia, bestiality, possession of child pornography, and even incest and pedophilia."

Pryor has indicated that he considers Roe v. Wade "the worst abomination of constitutional law in our history."

He said, "I will never forget January 22, 1973, the day seven members of our highest court ripped the Constitution and ripped out the life of millions of unborn children."

He doesn't care nearly as much about kids once they're born:

He said, "It matters not to me whether or not (my actions protect children). My job is to make sure the state of Alabama isn’t run by (a) federal court. My job isn’t to come here and help children."

Minorities? Pshaw!

He asked a Congressional committee to "consider seriously…the repeal or amendment of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, which affront to federalism and an expansive burden that has far outlived its usefulness."

(FYI, that section 5 requires a governmental body to prove that any changes in voting procedures do not have an adverse effect on minorities before they can go ahead with those changes.)

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He's the worst sort of Far Wrong Neocon. THIS is the guy that needs to get voted down. I just hope the Democrats haven't spent all THEIR political capital.

more:
http://www.independentjudiciary.com/nominees/nominee.cfm?NomineeID=46

quotes from:
http://www.independentjudiciary.com/resources/docs/talking_points_pryor.pdf

[HockeyMom]

1. Lyndsay Graham

mentioned that there was one judge who probably wouldn't have the votes to pass. Since the other two have been confirmed (not even close), is it Pryor? There is nobody else left.

[cornermouse]

2. Don't hold your breath.

I'm not.

It seems that a repititious pattern of "this is the worst nominee" on all three of these candidates. This might be true, but it really makes me feel a certain feeling of deja vu or maybe crying "wolf" too many times. In other words, the same feeling that I get from the republicans.

I don't think the "compromise" on the nuclear option or the "this is the worst nominee" has helped the democratic party's credibility at all.

[The Witch]

4. I agree, we've said this is the worst for too many of them.

I think this fellow really IS the worst.

I really hope some moderate Republicans can take a stand on this guy, because where Owen & Brown sounded a little wacko, he really sounds like a nutjob.

[unsavedtrash]

3. this is what we will get with Pryor:

See the rest at: http://www.independentjudiciary.com/nominees/nominee.cfm?NomineeID=87

Co-chair of the 2000 Bush-Cheney campaign in Alabama, Pryor was the only attorney general to file an amicus brief in support of President Bush's position in Bush v. Gore, a case involving Florida - not Alabama - election law.

* Made Alabama the only state seeking to strike down parts of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) and the Clean Water Act (CWA). Thirty-six other states opposed Pryor on VAWA, eight others on CWA.

* Filed briefs calling for eliminating protections in the Family and Medical Leave Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Endangered Species Act.

* Testified in Congress against EPA enforcement of the Clean Air Act.

* Testified before a congressional committee, urging it to "consider seriously...the repeal or amendment of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, which affront to federalism and an expansive burden that has far outlived its usefulness." He stood by his position during his 2003 confirmation hearings.

* Criticized as "antidemocratic and insensitive to federalism" constitutionally-based Supreme Court decisions invalidating a Virginia state college's male-only admissions policy and a Colorado ban on city and county laws protecting gays from discrimination.

* Opposed federal court remedial action in the face of what he admitted to be Alabama's non-compliance with a settlement involving its foster care system, declaring: "My job is to make sure the state of Alabama isn't run by a federal court. My job isn't to come here and help children."

View on the Right of Reproductive Choice

* Pryor called Roe v. Wade "the worst abomination of constitutional law in our history."

* Pryor says he agrees with Justice Scalia that "the Constitution says nothing about a right to abortion."

* Pryor said: "I will never forget January 22, 1973, the day seven members of our highest court ripped the Constitution and ripped out the life of millions of unborn children."

Views on the Separation of Church and State
Pryor has advocated weakening the prohibition on state-established religion:

* In an article, Pryor asked "Will the court continue to modify the errors of case law that created the so-called separation of church and state?"

* Pryor publicly declared that "the challenge of the next millennium will be to preserve the American experiment by restoring its Christian perspective."

* Using the office of the Attorney General, Pryor avidly supported former Judge Roy Moore's efforts to promote Christianity in the courtroom - first for beginning court sessions with a clergy-led Christian prayer and later for displaying the Ten Commandments in the rotunda of the Alabama Supreme Court. Courts found both practices unconstitutional.

[The Witch]

5. Devil's advocate (replying to my own post)

As I was thinking about possible arguments for/against the nomination, the following occurred to me.

"He said, "It matters not to me whether or not (my actions protect children). My job is to make sure the state of Alabama isn’t run by (a) federal court. My job isn’t to come here and help children.""

Is this view consistent with the view of the folks who opposed federal intervention in the Terri Schiavo case? Granted, the major difference is the right to privacy in end-of-life decisions. Does anyone here know enough about law that they could look at this case and tell me if the federal intervention here was warranted or not?

[Gothmog]

6. I hope that Pryor is voted down

I hope that Graham is right about one judge being voted down. I would love to see Pryor voted down