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WASHINGTON, February 23, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In a press-release Friday, the White House announced the appointment of William H. Pryor Jr. to serve on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.  Pryor has served as the Attorney General of Alabama since 1997.  President Bush used his recess-appointment powers to seat Pryor, after his nomination had been blocked by filibusters in the Senate.  The President has a constitutional right to fill judicial vacancies while the Senate is in recess.  The appointment marks the second such move by Bush in five weeks, as he made a similar recess appointment of US District Judge Charles Pickering to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans on January 15th.  The Republican Senate was unable to garner the 60 votes necessary to end the Democratic filibuster. Pickering’s appointment was opposed by many abortion-rights groups because of his record on reproductive rights

The White House press-release confirms that a bipartisan majority of Senators supports his confirmation, but that a “minority of Democratic Senators has been using unprecedented obstructionist tactics to prevent him and other qualified nominees from receiving up-or-down votes. Their tactics are inconsistent with the Senate’s constitutional responsibility and are hurting our judicial system,” the White House release said.  In June 2003, Pryor called the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision “the worst abomination of the history of constitutional law.” He also called the day the decision was handed down “the day seven members of our high court ripped the Constitution and ripped out the life of millions of unborn children.”  Read the statement from the President at: https://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/02/20040220-6.html   Read the related LifeSiteNews.com coverage of the Pickering appointment, “Bush Installs Pro-Life Judicial Nominee Foiling Filibusters by Pro-Abortion Senators” at:  https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2004/jan/04011603.html