SEN. HATCH’S ATTACKS ON AMERICANS UNITED ARE UNFOUNDED, SAYS GROUP’S LEADER
Utah Senator’s Senate Floor Criticism Part Of ‘Desperate’ Plan To Save
Extremist Court Nominee Pryor, Says AU’s Lynn
Americans United for Separation of Church and State has decried attacks on
the organization last night and this morning by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah)
on the floor of the Senate.
In an effort to shore up flagging support for federal appeals court nominee
William Pryor, Hatch last night accused Americans United of hypocrisy.
Hatch said that AU, as part of its opposition to President George W. Bush’s
faith-based initiative, pointed out that a conservative Protestant
religious group could accept tax funding and hang out a sign reading, “Help
Wanted. Jews, Catholics and Muslims Need Not Apply.”
Hatch then implied that AU is hypocritical because it is trying to deny
Pryor, who is currently Alabama’s attorney general, a job as a federal
judge because of his Catholic faith.
“Sen. Hatch just doesn’t get it,” said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive
director of Americans United. “We don’t oppose Pryor because of his
religious affiliation; we oppose him because he is an extremist who lacks
the proper temperament to sit on a federal court.”
Lynn said Hatch’s attacks are nothing more than an effort to salvage
Pryor’s doomed nomination.
“This is a desperate ploy,” said Lynn. “Hatch is playing the religious
bigotry card because he knows Pryor’s nomination is in trouble. It won’t
work.”
Lynn pointed out that it was Hatch and his supporters who first raised the
issue of Pryor’s religion. Americans United released an in-depth, 11-page
report on Pryor’s extreme legal views (see report: www.au.org/pryor.htm)
earlier this year that never once mentioned the nominee’s personal
religious beliefs.
“I don’t care where Pryor goes to church,” said Lynn. “That is irrelevant
to our opposition to Pryor. The man is not fit for the federal courts
because he does not respect legal precedent and basic constitutional
principles.”
Americans United is a religious liberty watchdog group based in Washington,
D.C. Founded in 1947, the organization educates Americans about the
importance of church-state separation in safeguarding religious freedom.
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SPECIAL REPORT:
PRYOR OFFENSES
Federal Court Nominee Bill Pryor’s Record Of Extremism
www.au.org/pryor.htm
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For Immediate Release
July 31, 2003
Americans United for Separation of Church and State
Contact: Joseph Conn, Rob Boston or Jeremy Leaming
202.466.3234 telephone
202.466.2587 fax
www.au.org
AMERICANS UNITED LAUDS SENATORS FOR BLOCKING VOTE ON FEDERAL COURT NOMINEE
BILL PRYOR
AU’s Lynn Says Nomination Of Pryor Must Be Defeated
The U.S. Senate today blocked a vote on the nomination of Alabama Attorney
General Bill Pryor to a federal appeals court.
Pryor’s Senate allies fell 7 votes short of the 60 needed to stop debate
and force an up or down vote on the nomination. Pryor was nominated to the
11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals by President George W. Bush in early
April. An array of public interest groups, including Americans United for
Separation of Church and State, joined in urging the Senate to reject
Pryor’s nomination. Americans United sent a report to senators in June
detailing Pryor’s radical views regarding church-state separation in
America.
“We applaud senators for taking a stand against Pryor’s nomination,” said
the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, Americans United executive director. “Bill Pryor
has spent his political career trying to undermine church-state separation
and showing contempt for religious pluralism. His nomination is a divisive
one and must be defeated.”
The AU report on Pryor’s record highlighted the Alabama attorney general’s
extreme views on the First Amendment prohibition against the merger of
government and religion.
For example, in a 1997 speech to a private school in Alabama, he said the
Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States “are
rooted in a Christian perspective of the nature of government and the
nature of man.” “The challenge of the next millennium,” said Pryor, “will
be to preserve the American experiment by restoring its Christian
perspective.”
Pryor has also been a strident supporter of Alabama Chief Justice Roy
Moore. Moore placed a 5,280-pound Ten Commandments monument in the state
Judicial Building and has been fighting in the federal courts to keep it
there. In a 1997 speech at a pro-Moore rally, Pryor proclaimed that, “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.”
Lynn urged senators to remain committed to derailing Pryor’s nomination,
noting that Pryor’s record also reveals hostility and contempt for a whole
host of fundamental rights. Besides working to undermine church-state
separation, Pryor has also angered other groups that support privacy
rights, reproductive rights and civil rights in general.
“Pryor’s arguments against church-state separation and other fundamental
American principles are outlandish,” Lynn said. “He is an extremist, unfit
for a lifetime spot on the federal appeals court.”
Americans United is a religious liberty watchdog group based in Washington,
D.C. Founded in 1947, the organization educates Americans about the
importance of church-state separation in safeguarding religious freedom.
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www.au.org
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