Fwd: Pryor Press Conference/ADA Record

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From ADA Watch and the National Coalition for Disability Rights:

 

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Yesterday, ADA Watch/NCDR joined diverse coalition members at a news conference

concerning the nomination of William Pryor to a lifetime seat on the U.S. Court

of Appeals for the 11th Circuit. The full ADA Watch statement follows the joint

press release below.

 

 

 

 

 

Immediate Release

 

ADA Watch/NCDR

 

in Partnership with the Interfaith Alliance

 

June 7, 2005

 

 

 

 

 

Reject Judicial Activist William Pryor, Diverse Groups Urge

 

[MP3 recording and transcript: www.interfaithalliance.org/pryoraudio.]

 

 

 

Washington, June 7 – Today, a diverse group of organizations amplified the

growing national opposition to the nomination of William Pryor to a lifetime

seat on the U. S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit. Hosted by The

Interfaith Alliance, organizations, some of whom have seldom if ever opposed a

judicial nominee, came together to urge the Senate to reject Pryor, who they say

would be a judicial activist based on his stated contempt for the Supreme Court

and his extremist views of two centuries of American jurisprudence.

 

 

 

The Rev. Dr. C. Welton Gaddy, President of The Interfaith Alliance

(www.Interfaithalliance.org) moderated a panel discussion that included Phyllis

Snyder, President, National Council of Jewish Women (www.ncjw.org); Christopher

Barron, Political Director, Log Cabin Republicans (www.logcabin.org); Jim Ward,

President, ADA Watch/National Coalition for Disability Rights

(www.ADAwatch.org), and David M. Smith, Vice President of Policy, Human Rights

Campaign (www.hrc.org).

 

 

 

Objecting to the Pryor nomination, the speakers cited evidence that the nominee

stands far outside of the mainstream of American legal precedent. The speakers

agreed his confirmation would be detrimental to religious liberty, human rights,

women’s rights, rights of people with disabilities, consumers, workers, and the

environment.

 

 

 

MR. PRYOR THREATENS RELIGIOUS LIBERTY

 

“Mr. Pryor envisions a different and frightening America, where public officials

would ignore the Constitution and our history in order to impose one particular

religious tradition’s interpretations and beliefs on all other Americans,” Gaddy

said, noting that Pryor is the first nominee ever opposed by The Interfaith

Alliance. “In his imagined America, one version of Christianity would deny equal

rights to the believers of all other traditions within Christianity and to all

other religions or non-religious beliefs. In the interest of religion and

democracy, The Interfaith Alliance does not want America to go down that road.”

 

 

 

MR. PRYOR THREATENS EQUAL RIGHTS FOR GAY AND LESBIAN AMERICANS

 

“It is incredibly rare for our organization to oppose a Republican judicial

nomination,” Barron said. “Mr. Pryor’s record, however, is so out of step with

mainstream Republican values and contemporary jurisprudence that Log Cabin is

compelled to forcefully oppose his nomination.”

 

“As the attorney general of Alabama, Mr. Pryor used state resources to advance

his anti-gay beliefs, linking the state’s website to anti-gay extremist groups,”

Smith said. “Also while serving as attorney general, he compared homosexuality

to bestiality and pedophilia in an amicus brief in the Lawrence v. Texas case.

Those comparisons are not only extremely hurtful to gay Americans and their

families, but also fly in the face of scientific evidence, and basic common

sense.”

 

“William Pryor has gone out of his way to oppose equal rights for gay and

lesbian Americans,” Barron said. “In Lawrence v. Texas …. the Court rejected Mr.

Pryor’s arguments, with Justice Anthony Kennedy—who was appointed by President

Reagan—dismissing his arguments as ‘demeaning.’ Mr. Pryor advances a

jurisprudence that is profoundly out of step with American legal thinking.

 

“Based on his own testimony before the United States Senate Judiciary Committee,

where Mr. Pryor dismissed existing Supreme Court precedent as ‘morally wrong’ no

one can reasonably believe that he will respect established law and practice

judicial temperament untainted by personal prejudice,” Barron said.

 

 

 

“This discussion this week is not about partisan politics – it’s about what’s

good for America, and that includes fair and impartial judges,” Smith said.

“Bill Pryor has demonstrated time and time again that he is anything but

unbiased, and that is anything but good for the country.”

 

 

 

MR. PRYOR THREATENS AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES

 

“More than 60 disability organizations have joined a total of more than 200

organizations opposed to the confirmation of Alabama Attorney General William

Pryor to a lifetime seat on the Federal court,” Ward said. " The disability

community is opposed to the confirmation of William Pryor because we do not

believe a person with a disability would receive a fair hearing from a ‘Judge

Pryor.’

 

 

" Pryor's commitment is to ideology rather than justice,” Ward said. “The Senate

should reject this nominee and President Bush, whose father signed the ADA into

law, should nominate individuals who demonstrate a commitment to the civil

rights of citizens with disabilities -- and of all Americans. "

 

MR. PRYOR THREATENS WOMEN’S REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH

“NCJW believes that only those with a proven commitment to constitutional rights

and fundamental freedoms, including reproductive rights, should be confirmed to

lifetime seats on the federal bench,” Snyder said

 

“As Jews, we know what it means to have fundamental rights and liberties

stripped away – and given that history, William Pryor sets off alarm bells,”

Snyder said. “The extreme ideology that Pryor has espoused throughout his

career, including his staunch opposition to the separation of religion and state

and against our hard-won fundamental freedoms, especially reproductive rights

and the right to privacy, makes him unfit for confirmation to the circuit

courts.”

 

 

 

-30-

 

ADA Watch Statement by Jim Ward Concerning William Pryor

 

 

ADA Watch/National Coalition for Disability Rights is an alliance of hundreds of

disability, civil rights and social justice organizations united to protect and

promote the human rights of children and adults with physical, mental, cognitive

and developmental disabilities.

 

 

 

More than 60 disability organizations have joined a total of more than 200

organizations opposed to the confirmation of Alabama Attorney General William

Pryor to a lifetime seat on the Federal court. ADA Watch partners opposing Pryor

include the National Council on Independent Living, National Association of the

Deaf, American Association of People with Disabilities, Eastern Paralyzed

Veterans Association, Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, Pennsylvania Council

of the Blind, and the Independent Living Center of Birmingham, Alabama.

 

 

 

" The disability community is opposed to the confirmation of William Pryor

because we do not believe a person with a disability would receive a fair

hearing from a " Judge Pryor. "

 

 

 

Why do we oppose Pryor?

 

 

 

- Pryor has called the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) an " illegal

mandate. "

 

 

 

- He has led the effort to limit congressional power to enact laws protecting

civil rights and has fought aggressively to prevent people with disabilities

from enforcing their rights against states under the ADA and Section 504 of the

Rehabilitation Act.

 

 

 

- Pryor has spoken out in favor of legal arguments that would eliminate the

right of individuals to obtain Medicaid services that states are obligated to

provide, and he has also advocated in support of the death penalty for mentally

retarded criminals.

 

 

 

- Pryor has denied any existence of evidence regarding discrimination by the

States - including documented instances of forced sterilization of individuals

with disabilities, unnecessary institutionalization, denial of education and

healthcare, and systemic prejudices and stereotyping perpetrated by state

actors.

 

 

 

" Pryor's commitment is to ideology rather than justice. The Senate should reject

this nominee and President Bush, whose father signed the ADA into law, should

nominate individuals who demonstrate a commitment to the civil rights of

citizens with disabilities - and of all Americans. "

 

 

 

-30-

 

 

 

 

 

 

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