Anti-Catholicism charges leveled in questioning of judicial nominees

Submitted on August 01, 2003

Nancy Frasier O'Brien

WASHINGTON (CNS) — Supporters of Alabama Attorney General Bill Pryor’s nomination to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals have leveled charges of anti-Catholicism against his opponents. But those who oppose the nomination say they are more concerned about how he will uphold the law than about his religion. Although the Senate Judiciary Committee approved the Pryor nomination in a 10-9 vote July 23, a filibuster against the nomination was expected in the full Senate. "Are we not saying, then, that good Catholics need not apply?" said Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., of the debate surrounding the nomination of Pryor, a Catholic who said in his Senate confirmation hearings that abortion was "an abomination" that has led to the "slaughter of millions of unborn children." Sessions, a Methodist, said in a July 24 teleconference that Pryor was stating "nothing more than the established doctrine of his Church" and expressing a view that people of many religions would affirm. The key issue was whether Pryor would enforce the law, Sessions said. Pryor "has a record that shows he will support the law," he added. Despite his strong personal opposition to partial-birth abortion, for example, Pryor told Alabama prosecutors "not to enforce portions of the Alabama partial-birth abortion law that were in conflict with the Supreme Court," Sessions said. The religion question was first raised during confirmation hearings by Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, chairman of the Judiciary Committee and a Mormon. Hatch asked Pryor his religion, whether he was active in his Church and whether he believed in his religion. Pryor, a Knight of the Holy Sepulcher, said he was an active Catholic who believed in his religion. In response to Hatch’s inquiry, Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee and also a Catholic, said a nominee’s religion "is irrelevant to our considerations," adding that the committee "should be religion-blind." Two other Catholics also have faced questions during the nomination process over their Catholic views: James Leon Holmes, nominated for a U.S. District Court seat in Arkansas, has been criticized for an article about marriage that he wrote with his wife; and Carolyn Kuhl, nominated for the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, faced opposition over her pro-life positions. Newspaper and radio ads supporting Pryor and accusing "some in the U.S. Senate" of anti-Catholicism began appearing July 19 in Maine and Rhode Island.