AMERICAN ATHEISTS ACTION ALERT

July 30, 2003

SENATE MAY VOTE
THURSDAY ON PRYOR

NOMINATION: FILIBUSTER POSSIBLE

Overnight Letters, Phone Calls & Faxes To Senators Needed Now!

The U.S. Senate may hold a vote on the appointment of Alabama Attorney General Bill Pryor tomorrow -- Thursday, July 30, 2003.

Pryor is being nominated by President Bush to a post on the 11th U.S. District Court of Appeals. He narrowly survived a recent vote by the Senate Judiciary Committee. Opponents of Mr. Pryor may have to filibuster in order to stop this controversial nomination.

Overnight letters, faxes and phone calls to Senators
are needed immediately to stop the Pryor nomination!

American Atheists urges all nonbelievers to contact members of the Senate as soon as possible. If you have already done so, considering sending a follow-up fax, letter or phone call. Urge Senators to reject Bill Pryor's nomination!

* Pryor's outrageous views and statements have made him one of the administration's most controversial selections for the federal bench. Despite the recent Supreme Court ruling striking down antiquated, religion-based laws on voluntary homosexual activity, Pryor compared gay sexuality to "prostitution, adultery, necrophilia, bestiality, possession of child pornography and even incest and pedophilia" in a legal brief he filed with the high court.

As Alabama Attorney General, Pryor has supported the extremist theocratic of Judge Roy Moore, who recently lost another law suit over his placement of a Ten Commandments monument in the State Judicial Building. Pryor told a "Ten Commandments Rally" supporting Moore, "God has chosen, through his son Jesus Christ, this time, this place for all Christians -- Protestants, Catholics and Orthodox -- to save our country and save our courts."

* Can Mr. Pryor compartmentalize his extremist religious views and be a fair, impartial public servant holding a position of trust in our federal judiciary?

"Pryor's harsh views on civil rights, tolerance, and especially the separation of church and state should call into question his fitness to hold an important position, especially on a Federal Circuit Court," said Ellen Johnson, President of American Atheists. "His nomination by President Bush is part of a strategy to 'pack the courts,' and undermine important constitutional protections, especially the First Amendment."

Contact the Senate now!

* Visit our TIPS ON CONTACTING CONGRESS

* Find your U.S. Senator

* Send us copies of your faxes or letter and we will post them on this web site.

Spread the word! Circulate copies of this Action Alert!

MORE ABOUT THE PRYOR NOMINATION

* From AANEWS:

LEGAL FIREWORKS EXPECTED AS PRYOR NOMINATION HEADS TO SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE (Web Posted: June 10, 2003)

The battle over President Bush's campaign to reshape the federal judicial system will heat up again this week as hearings begin on Capitol Hill over the appointment of controversial nominee and Alabama Attorney General Bill Pryor.

In April, Mr. Bush named Pryor to the 11 U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, a lifetime position. Congressional approval is still needed, however, and groups backing or opposing Pryor are now attempting to round up votes. A key hurdle to his ascent to the federal bench is Wednesday's hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Pryor has taken what critics describe as extreme positions on a numbers of key issues including abortion rights, the role of the federal courts, and the separation of church and state. He is known as an ardent supporter of Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore who has gained national attention for his efforts to display the Ten Commandments in court rooms and even the rotunda of the state Judicial Building. And in his official capacity as Alabama's leading law enforcement official, Pryor attended a 1997 "Save the Commandments" rally on the steps of the state capitol and told a crowd of 5,000 Moore supporters, "God has chosen, through his son Jesus Christ, this time, this place for all Christians -- Protestants, Catholics and Orthodox -- to save our country and save our courts."

Mr. Pryor's strident rhetoric "offends virtually every constituency in the country," one pundit told a New Washington reporter.

Even so, Pryor enjoys wide support in the Senate including endorsements from Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) who has been steering the nomination through the confirmation process, and former boss Sen. Jeff Sessions (R.-Ala.). Christian fundamentalist groups and legal advocacy organizations like the American Center for Law and Justice are also urging Pryor's confirmation to the federal bench. Indeed, as head of Moore's legal team defending the placement of the Judicial Building Commandments monument, Pryor enlisted the assistance of Herb Titus, an ACLJ official who has also served as head of Regent University School of Law founded by televangelist Pat Robertson.

Jay Sekulow, Chief Counsel of ACLJ described Pryor as "an exceptional nominee who will serve with distinction on the appeals court.

"He is extremely bright, experienced and committed to ensuring that the constitution and the rule of law will be protected and faithfully applied," Sekulow wrote in a statement now on the Business Wire. "Bill Pryor deserves a full and fair hearing in the Senate."

Sekulow, Robertson and other religious right leaders are also backing Pryor for his support in a legal case involving so-called "student led" prayer in public schools. That issue, where students presumably organize and recite prayers during events ranging from official athletic events to graduation ceremonies, continues to divide the federal courts.

LETTERS

July 22, 2003

Committee on the Judiciary
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510

VIA FACSIMILE 202-224-9102

RE: STOP PRYOR NOMINATION TO USCA, 11TH CIRCUIT

Dear Senators:

There have been media accounts of Attorney General Bill Pryor’s solicitation of funds from tobacco companies as part of his promotion of the Republican Attorneys General Association. What most articles leave out is that Pryor supported tobacco companies when attorneys general in other states were suing them! Of course he would solicit their money!

What really should be of more concern to you is that months before the media began breaking stories of decades-long cover-up of child molestation by Archbishop Lipscomb of Mobile (Pryor’s hometown), Pryor advocated legislation that ostensibly would require clergy to report knowledge of child rape. After media began reporting crimes by priests and subsequent cover- ups by Lipscomb and others, the Alabama Legislature, via HB262 and SB222, passed the legislation that Pryor wanted. This legislation offers Lipscomb and others similarly situated exemption from the law if knowledge of clergy crimes comes via confession. A priest can confess to the archbishop: mum’s the word.

Why do Pryor and the Alabama Legislature want doctors and teachers to report crimes and not Catholic clergy who rape altar boys? Perhaps it’s to protect Vatican assets in Alabama by making civil suits less likely, a ramification stemming from this government protection of clergy.

As to recent ads claiming Pryor is being subjected to “religious tests,” prohibited by Art. VI of the U. S. Constitution, I submit that because Pryor, by words and deeds, has acted to promote the Vatican’s social and political agenda, that Art. VI is trumped by Art. III, Sec. 3. The Vatican is a sovereign nation and its agents (priests, bishops and cardinals), who are embedded all across the U. S., actively subvert our constitutional republic form of government in their quest to promote the Dogma of the Pope.

That Pryor can separate his obvious loyalty to the Pope from U. S. law doesn’t pass the smell test. Pryor must be stopped!

Sincerely,

Larry Darby