Pryor Restraint

Powerline wonders why Judge Pryor is being fillibustered.

Quin Hillyer of the Mobile (Ala.) Register says that Alabamans want to know why Bill Pryor is being filibustered in the Senate. Hillyer notes that Pryor enjoys near universal support in the state, including the support of newspapers that endorsed Al Gore and John Kerry, the Democrat that Pryor defeated for attorney general, and Alabama's leading black politicians. He has earned this support in part by defending Democratic lawmakers against Republican lawsuits, defying the Republican governor who appointed him, and consistently enforcing liberal laws and court rulings that conflict with his personal predilections. Hillyer calls Pryor "a man of conscience even at his own political peril" and "a real-life Atticus Finch."

So why are the Democrats filibustering Pryor? My guess -- because he is a man of principle and because they hate Alabama.

There is, sadly, an even more obvious reason: He was nominated by George W. Bush, Object of Hatred in Chief.