William H. Pryor, Jr.

William H. Pryor, Jr.
Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
Incumbent
Assumed office  2004
Nominated by	George W. Bush
Preceded by	Emmett Ripley Cox
45th Attorney General of Alabama
In office 1997 – 2004
Governor	Fob James Don Siegelman Bob Riley
Preceded by	Jeff Sessions
Succeeded by	Troy King
Born	April 26, 1962 (1962-04-26) (age 47) Mobile, Alabama
Political party	Republican (while A.G.)
Spouse(s)	Kristan Wilson Pryor
Children	Caroline Pryor, Victoria Pryor
Alma mater	McGill-Toolen Catholic High School Northeast Louisiana University Tulane University
Profession	Jurist
Religion	Roman Catholic

William Holcombe "Bill" Pryor, Jr. (born April 26, 1962, Mobile, Alabama) is a federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Previously, he was the Attorney General of the State of Alabama from 1997 to 2004.

Background

Born in Mobile, Alabama to William and Laura Pryor, William Holcombe Pryor, Jr. was raised in a devoutly Roman Catholic family. He and his siblings attended McGill-Toolen Catholic High School in Mobile. He earned his B.A. from Northeast Louisiana University in 1984 and his J.D. from Tulane University Law School in 1987, where he served as editor in chief of the Tulane Law Review.

Legal career

Pryor served as a law clerk to Judge John Minor Wisdom of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit from 1987 to 1988. Pryor worked as a private attorney from 1988-1995, serving as adjunct professor at the Cumberland School of Law at Samford University from 1989-1995. Pryor currently teaches federal jurisdiction at the University of Alabama School of Law.

Political career

From 1995-1997, he served as Alabama's deputy attorney general. He became the state's Attorney General in 1997. He was, at that time, the youngest state attorney general in the United States. Pryor was elected in 1998 and reelected in 2002. At reelection, Pryor garnered nearly 59% of the vote, the highest percentage of any statewide candidate.

Pryor received national attention in 2003 when he called for the removal of Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, who had disobeyed a federal court order to remove a Ten Commandments monument from the Alabama Judicial Building. Pryor said that although he agreed with the propriety of displaying the Ten Commandments in a courthouse, he was bound to follow the court order and uphold the rule of law. Pryor personally prosecuted Moore for violations of the Canons of Judicial Ethics, and the Alabama Court of the Judiciary unanimously removed Moore from office.

Eleventh Circuit nomination and confirmation

Pryor was nominated to the Eleventh Circuit by President George W. Bush on April 9, 2003 to fill a seat vacated by Judge Emmett Ripley Cox, who had assumed senior status. Originally, William H. Steele had been nominated to the seat in 2001, but his nomination had become stalled in the Democrat-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee during the 107th United States Congress because African-American groups protested his decisions in two civil rights cases as a magistrate judge. His nomination was withdrawn in January 2003. Pryor was nominated as Steele's replacement.

Despite the fact that the 108th United States Congress was controlled by the Republican Party, Senate Democrats refused to allow Pryor to be confirmed. He was filibustered in order to prevent an "up-or-down" confirmation vote which he would almost certainly have won given the partisan balance in the United States Senate at the time. President George W. Bush installed Pryor as a circuit court judge on February 20, 2004 using a recess appointment to bypass the regular Senate confirmation process. Pryor resigned as Alabama's attorney general that same day and took his judicial oath for a term lasting until the end of 2006, when his appointment would have ended had he not been eventually confirmed.

On May 23, 2005 Senator John McCain announced an agreement between seven Republican and seven Democratic U.S. Senators, the Gang of 14, to ensure an up-or-down vote on Pryor and two[1] other stalled Bush nominees, including Priscilla Owen and Janice Rogers Brown. On June 9, 2005, he was confirmed to the Eleventh Circuit by a vote of (Vote to confirm Pryor passes, 53-45). He received his commission on June 10, 2005 and on June 20, 2005, he was sworn in at the age of 43. Pryor was the first and only judge appointed to the Eleventh Circuit by Bush and confirmed by the United States Senate.

Notable Opinions

• Pelphrey v. Cobb County (11th Cir. 2008). Pryor wrote the majority opinion joined by Judge Charles R. Wilson affirming the district court ruling that sectarian prayers used to open commission meetings did not violate the Establishment Clause if the prayers were not exploitive.^{[clarification needed]} U.S. District Court Judge Donald Middlebrooks dissented.
• Zibtluda LLC v. Gwinnett County, Georgia, (11th Cir. 2005). Opinion affirmed district court ruling that a local ordinance limiting the placement of adult entertainment establishments was constitutional. The opinion was notable for Pryor's quote of a line from The B-52's hit song "Love Shack" in describing the proposed establishment.

Personal life

Pryor is married to Kristan Wilson Pryor; they have two daughters, Caroline and Victoria Pryor.

Pryor's father, William Holcombe Pryor, Sr. is a former band director and now Roman Catholic deacon at McGill-Toolen Catholic High School, his own alma mater and that of two of his four children. ^[1]

See also

• George W. Bush judicial appointment controversies
• filibuster
• cloture
• "nuclear option"
• Gang of 14
• recess appointment
• George W. Bush Supreme Court candidates

References

1. ^ McGill-Toolen Catholic High School-About McGill-Toolen

• William H. Pryor, Jr. at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center.

External links

• US DOJ webpage
• White House judicial nominee biography
• Campaign Contributions Made by William Pryor