William Pryor

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William Pryor
Image of William Pryor

Nonpartisan

United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit
Tenure

2005 - Present

Years in position

19

Education

Bachelor's

Northeast Louisiana University, 1984

Law

Tulane University Law School, 1987

Personal
Birthplace
Mobile, Ala.

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William Holcomb Pryor, Jr. is the chief judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit. He first joined the court on a recess appointment from former President George W. Bush (R) in 2004 and later received his commission as an Article III judge in 2005. Prior to his appointment, Pryor was the attorney general of Alabama.[1]

Pryor succeeded Ed Carnes as the chief judge of the 11th Circuit in 2020.

Pryor was included on President Donald Trump’s (R) June 2018 list of 25 potential Supreme Court nominees to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy on the court. Trump first released such a list during his 2016 presidential campaign and stated, “This list is definitive and I will choose only from it in picking future Justices of the United States Supreme Court.”[2][3]

Early life and education

Born in Mobile, Alabama, Pryor graduated from Northeast Louisiana University with his bachelor's degree in 1984 and from Tulane University Law School with his J.D. in 1987.[1]

Professional career

Judicial career

11th Circuit Court of Appeals

Recess appointment - 108th Congress

Pryor was nominated to the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit by President George W. Bush on April 9, 2003, to fill a seat vacated by Judge Emmett Cox. After his nomination stalled in the U.S. Senate due to Democratic opposition, Pryor was installed as judge via recess appointment on February 20, 2004, bypassing the U.S. Senate confirmation process. Pryor resigned as attorney general of Alabama that same day and took his judicial oath for a term scheduled until the end of December 2005.[1][4]

109th Congress

Nomination Tracker
Fedbadgesmall.png
Nominee Information
Name: William H. Pryor, Jr.
Court: United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit
Progress
Confirmed 115 days after nomination.
ApprovedANominated: February 14, 2005
ApprovedAABA Rating: Substantial Majority Qualified, Minority Well Qualified (1 abstention)
Questionnaire:
DefeatedAHearing:
QFRs: (Hover over QFRs to read more)
ApprovedAReported: May 12, 2005 
ApprovedAConfirmed: June 9, 2005
ApprovedAVote: 53-45

Pryor was renominated during the 109th Congress to the seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit to which Pryor received a recess appointment in the 108th Congress. The American Bar Association rated Pryor Substantial Majority Qualified, Minority Well Qualified for the nomination, with one abstention.[5] Pryor had a hearing before the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary during the 108th Congress on June 11, 2003, but did not receive a hearing in the 109th Congress. Pryor's nomination was reported by U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) on May 12, 2005. Pryor was confirmed on a recorded 53-45 vote of the U.S. Senate on June 9, 2005, and he received his commission the next day. He became chief judge of the court in 2020, succeeding Ed Carnes.[1][6][7]

Noteworthy cases

Title VII discrimination case (2017)
See also: United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit (Jameka K. Evans v. Georgia Regional Hospital, Charles Moss, et al., 15-15234)

Judge William Pryor wrote a concurring opinion in the case of Evans v. Georgia Regional Hospital, which was decided by a three-judge panel of the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals on March 10, 2017. In the case, the panel held that the circuit court's 1979 precedent, Blum v. Gulf Oil Corporation, bound the panel to hold that discrimination in the workplace on the basis of sexual orientation did not violate Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. The full Eleventh Circuit declined to hear the case en banc. Lambda Legal, which represented Evans before the circuit panel, announced they would appeal the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

In his concurrence, Judge Pryor wrote separately "to explain the error of the argument of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the dissent that a person who experiences discrimination because of sexual orientation necessarily experiences discrimination for deviating from gender stereotypes."[8] Judge Pryor elucidated his view of the difference between the two claims in his opinion. He wrote,[8]

“

Although a person who experiences the former will sometimes also experience the latter, the two concepts are legally distinct. And the insistence otherwise by the Commission and the dissent relies on false stereotypes of gay individuals. ... The majority opinion correctly holds that a claim of discrimination for failure to conform to a gender stereotype is not 'just another way to claim discrimination based on sexual orientation.' ... Like any other woman, Evans can state a claim that she experienced, for example, discrimination for wearing a 'male haircut' if she includes enough factual allegations. ... But just as a woman cannot recover under Title VII when she is fired because of her heterosexuality, neither can a gay woman sue for discrimination based on her sexual orientation. Deviation from a particular gender stereotype may correlate disproportionately with a particular sexual orientation, and plaintiffs who allege discrimination on the basis of gender nonconformity will often also have experienced discrimination because of sexual orientation. ... But under Title VII, we ask only whether the individual experienced discrimination for deviating from a gender stereotype. ...

The doctrine of gender nonconformity is not an independent vehicle for relief; it is instead a proxy a plaintiff uses to help support her argument that an employer discriminated on the basis of the enumerated sex category by holding males and females to different standards of behavior. Because a claim of gender nonconformity is a behavior-based claim, not a status-based claim, a plaintiff still 'must show that the employer actually relied on her gender in making its decision.' ... the doctrine of gender nonconformity is not and cannot be an independent vehicle for relief because the only status-based classes that provide relief are those enumerated within Title VII.[9][10][11][12]

”

Possible Donald Trump nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court

See also: Possible nominees to replace Anthony Kennedy on the United States Supreme Court
See also: Process to fill the vacated seat of Justice Antonin Scalia

2018

Pryor was listed by President Donald Trump (R) as a potential Supreme Court nominee to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy. Kennedy announced he would retire from the court effective July 31, 2018.[13] Trump ultimately chose Brett Kavanaugh as the nominee. Click here to learn more.

2017

On November 17, 2017, Pryor was included in a third list of individuals from which President Donald Trump would choose to fill vacancies on the U.S. Supreme Court.

A White House statement announcing the nominees stated,[14]

“

One year ago, President Donald J. Trump was elected to restore the rule of law and to Make the Judiciary Great Again. Following the successful confirmation of Justice Neil M. Gorsuch to the Supreme Court of the United States and the nomination of more than seventy Federal judges—including five individuals from his Supreme Court list—President Trump today announced that he is refreshing his Supreme Court list with five additional judges. President Trump will choose a nominee for a future Supreme Court vacancy, should one arise, from this updated list of 25 individuals. The President remains deeply committed to identifying and selecting outstanding jurists in the mold of Justice Gorsuch. These additions, like those on the original list released more than a year ago, were selected with input from respected conservative leaders.[12]

”

In a December 2016 study, scholars and attorneys Jeremy Kidd, Riddhi Sohan Dasgupta, Ryan Walter, and James Phillips identified Pryor as the third most natural successor to Justice Scalia based on a measure of their own design. Among Trump's known potential nominees, only Judges Thomas Lee of the Supreme Court of Utah and Neil Gorsuch of the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals had higher scores on the authors' measure.[15]

Finalist

On January 24, 2017, Politico reported, per sources, that Pryor was one of three finalists for President Trump's nomination to succeed Justice Antonin Scalia on the United States Supreme Court. On January 31, 2017, Trump nominated Judge Neil Gorsuch to the U.S. Supreme Court.[16][17]

See also

External links


Footnotes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Federal Judicial Center, "Biographical directory of federal judges," accessed June 15, 2014
  2. ↑ CBS News, "Trump says Justice Kennedy's replacement will come from list of 25," June 27, 2018
  3. ↑ FindLaw, "Trump Revises His Supreme Court Picks," September 26, 2016
  4. ↑ U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, "Hon. William H. Pryor Jr.," accessed August 18, 2016
  5. ↑ American Bar Association, "Ratings of Article III judicial nominees, 109th Congress," accessed August 18, 2016
  6. ↑ United States Congress, "PN 1429 - William H. Pryor, Jr. - The Judiciary," accessed August 18, 2016
  7. ↑ United States Congress, "PN 200 - William H. Pryor, Jr. - The Judiciary," accessed August 18, 2016
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named opinion
  9. ↑ U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, Jameka K. Evans v. Georgia Regional Hospital, Charles Moss, et al., March 10, 2017
  10. ↑ Lambda Legal, "Onward to the Supreme Court for Lambda Legal and client fired for being a lesbian," July 6, 2017
  11. ↑ National Constitution Center, "Major sex equality dispute on way to Supreme Court," July 11, 2017
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
  13. ↑ CBS News, "Trump says Justice Kennedy's replacement will come from list of 25," June 27, 2018
  14. ↑ The White House, "President Donald J. Trump Announces Five Additions to Supreme Court List," November 17, 2017
  15. ↑ Social Science Research Network, "Searching for Justice Scalia: Measuring the 'Scalia-ness' of the next potential member of the U.S. Supreme Court," December 1, 2016
  16. ↑ Politico, "Trump down to 3 in Supreme Court search," January 24, 2017
  17. ↑ The Atlantic, "Trump moves closer to announcing a Supreme Court nominee," January 25, 2017

Political offices
Preceded by
- 		United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit
2005-Present		 Succeeded by
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