National Association of the Deaf

The National Association of the Deaf (NAD) decried President Bush's "recess appointment" of Alabama Attorney General William Pryor as a U.S. appeals court judge last Friday.

"The appointment of Pryor to the Court is a slap in the face of over 28 million deaf and hard of hearing people. President Bush is sending a strong message to America that he fully intends to dismantle, piece by piece, the Americans with Disabilities Act," stated Kelby N. Brick, NAD Associate Director of Law and Advocacy.

Bush nominated Pryor for the court last year, but could not get the necessary approval of the United States Senate. As a result, Bush took advantage of a clause in the Constitution granting the president authority to install nominees in office when Congress is not in session. Congress was out of session for the Presidents Day holiday.

Senator John Edwards said Pryor "has a long record of vigorous efforts to deny Americans' basic rights under our laws."

"This is a non partisan issue. Members of both parties dislike him," added Brick, referring to the fact that Republicans from Pryor's home state are angry with him for leading charges to remove the state's chief justice.

Pryor has worked to weaken and eliminate federal protections for people with disabilities and other minorities. In fact, Pryor hired Jeffrey Sutton in the Board of Trustees of the University of Alabama vs. Garrett case that significantly weakened ADA protections against discrimination by the states. For information on Sutton, click here.

Pryor argued that the protections of the ADA were "not needed" to remedy discrimination by states against people with disabilities. The NAD opposed Pryor because of his outspoken activism against federal civil rights protections for people with disabilities and other minorities. His commitment is to ideology, not to justice.

Hundreds of organizations also opposed Pryor's appointment to the bench. A list of organizations can be found at http://adawatch.org/sutton.asp#list.