Liberal Religious Groups Oppose Pryor, Defend Democrats

Capitol Hill (CNSNews.com) - Leaders of several liberal religious groups held a press briefing on Capitol Hill Tuesday to defend pro-abortion Democrats who oppose one of President Bush's pro-life judicial nominees and to argue that objections to Alabama Attorney General William H. "Bill" Pryor are not based on his pro-life, Catholic beliefs.

But Pryor's supporters point to the treatment of other nominees with traditional religious beliefs to support their claims.

"Americans should understand that a person's religion, as the Constitution requires, should never be a qualification for public office," said Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), a pro-abortion Catholic who opposes Pryor's nomination.

Article VI Clause 3 of the U.S. Constitution states that "no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States."

Durbin is angry that Republicans who support Pryor are accusing Democrats who oppose him of engaging in just such a religious test. The Illinois Democrat points to a radio and newspaper advertising campaign launched by the Committee for Justice, a conservative group headed by former White House Counsel C. Boyden Gray.

In newspaper ads that began running last week, the doors to "Judicial Chambers" are shown with a sign hung on them stating "Catholics need not apply." Within the text of the ads, CFJ says: "Some in the Senate are attacking Bill Pryor for having 'deeply held' Catholic beliefs to prevent him from becoming a federal judge."

"It has been written that patriotism is the refuge of scoundrels," Durbin said in response to the campaign. "As of last week, we learned that religion is now the refuge of extremists."

CFJ Executive Director Sean Rushton believes the vehement response from Democrats and their liberal religious supporters indicates that the CFJ ad campaign may have hit a little too close to the truth for Democrats' liking.

"The extremely strong reaction from Senate Democrats, including Durbin, we think, highlights that they know we're onto something, and they're very worried about it," Rushton speculated. "They are afraid of people agreeing with us."

Pryor is a pro-life Catholic nominated to the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals by President Bush. Durbin and all eight other Judiciary Committee Democrats tried - unsuccessfully - to kill Pryor's nomination in committee and are now threatening a filibuster.

A minority of the Senate, composed solely of Democrats, is currently filibustering the nominations of former Assistant Solicitor General Miguel Estrada to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals and Texas Supreme Court Justice Priscilla Owen to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Both nominees are believed by Judiciary Committee Democrats to also be pro-life.

Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), ranking minority member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and another pro-abortion Catholic, referred to the CFJ as one of a number of "partisan hate groups" and called the ads "religious smears."

"Partisan political groups have used religious intolerance and bigotry to raise money and to publish and broadcast dishonest ads that falsely accuse Democratic senators of being anti-Catholic," said Leahy. "I cannot think of anything in my 29 years in the Senate that has angered me or upset me so much as this."

Rushton defended his group, pointing out that they did start the debate over religion and are not accusing any senator of intentionally being anti-Catholic.

"We're not raising or introducing religion into judicial nominations. We believe that they've been introducing religion into judicial nominations. We're just calling them on it," he said. "We are charging Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats with establishing a litmus test that would exclude people of orthodox religious beliefs - Jew, Christian and Muslim alike - from the courts."

The group argues that - when senators repeatedly cite a devoutly religious nominee's "deeply held personal beliefs" as grounds for rejection despite a public record showing the ability to distinguish personal from legal judgment - an ad campaign such as the one the CFJ has launched is justified.

The CFJ argues that Senate Democrats' use of an "abortion litmus test" for judicial nominees is a surrogate for a religious test.

"Senate Democrats may not be saying, 'All Catholics Need Not Apply,' but they are sending the unmistakable signal that Catholics who personally follow the church's teaching on abortion are unfit for the bench," Rushton explained.

"They really are, de facto, excluding all devoutly religious people. That's the problem, it becomes a litmus test," he said.

Liberal religious groups apply differing standards to Democrats, Republicans

Rev. Dr. C. Welton Gaddy, president of the liberal Interfaith Alliance, called the accusations that pro-abortion senators were targeting Pryor because of his pro-life, Catholic beliefs "out of bounds."

"Even to hint that a Judiciary Committee member's opposition to a judicial nomination is based on the nominee's religion is cause for alarm," he argued.

But Gaddy was more forgiving of Judiciary Committee Democrats who criticized Pryor for his personal opposition to abortion and for seeking to protect his then pre-school age daughters from exposure to homosexual behavior at Disney's "Gay Days."

"However, it is permissible, even obligatory, to inquire about how a person's religion impacts that person's decisions about upholding the Constitution and evaluating legislation," Gaddy said.

Rev. Carlton Veazey, president of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, called claims that a "religious litmus test" is being applied to judicial nominees "nonsense."

"[Pryor is] not unqualified for the bench because of his religion," Veazey claimed, "but because he lacks judicial temperament and has shown that he would impose his personal views regardless of the law."

Michael Schwartz, vice president for government relations with Concerned Women for America, said Pryor has disproved that claim through his own actions as Alabama's chief law enforcement officer.

"Attorney General Pryor...instructed his deputy AGs to interpret that state's partial birth abortion law in the narrowest possible way because he was afraid it was not defensible in court, as it turned out not to be," Schwartz explained. "That was not Mr. Pryor's personal conviction. That was his judgment as an officer of the law."

Schwartz also noted that Pryor actively discouraged a fellow attorney general from trying to have the Roe v. Wade decision - which legalized abortion during all nine months of pregnancy - overturned through a Supreme Court filing that did not directly relate to the legality of abortion.

"It's not a question in the realm of theory," Schwartz stressed. "The specific questions ... about Mr. Pryor's ability to exercise his responsibilities fairly and impartially with respect to his pro-life convictions are settled."

Even in the face of such evidence, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) stated his doubts about Pryor's ability to follow the law when it conflicts with his religious beliefs.

"In General Pryor's case, his beliefs are so well known, so deeply held, that it is very hard to believe, very hard to believe that they are not going to deeply influence the way he comes about saying, 'I will follow the law,'" Schumer said during Pryor's confirmation hearing. "It is hard to believe that the incredibly strong ideology of this nominee will not impact how he rules if confirmed."

The current debate over judicial nominees, Schwartz recalled, is not the first time "concern" has been expressed about a public figure who accepted and embraced the traditional teachings of his church on moral issues that cross into the political domain.

"When he's confronted with somebody like that, what does Mr. Schumer say? 'Well, we have to be very concerned about separation of church and state,'" Schwartz noted. "I heard that in 1960, when President Kennedy was running for office, and we knew what to call it back then.

"The real question is," he concluded, "does the behavior of the Senate Democrats - and particularly Senator Schumer - raise questions about their bigotry?"

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