The left-wing People for the American Way (PFAW) published the following quotes, among others, from Pryor on its website. PFAW intended them to be a distillation of the reasons he should not be confirmed. Conservatives reading them might stand up and cheer.
On Roe v. Wade
"the worst abomination of constitutional law in our history"
On "states’ rights"federalism
"With the New Deal, the Great Society, and the growing federal bureaucracy, we have strayed too far in the expansion of the federal government."
On the American government
"the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States are rooted in a Christian perspective of the nature of government and the nature of man. The challenge of the next millennium will be to preserve the American experiment by restoring its Christian perspective."
On Bush v Gore
"I’m probably the only one who wanted it 5-4. I wanted [then] Gov. Bush to have a full appreciation of the judiciary and judicial selection so we can have no more appointments like Justice Souter."
On sodomy laws
"a constitutional right that protects ‘the choice of one’s partner’ . . . must logically extend to activities like prostitution, adultery, necrophilia, bestiality, possession of child pornography, and even incest and pedophilia (if the child should credibly claim to be ‘willing’)."
On "sodomy" laws targeting only homosexuals, even if not enforced criminally
"Even legislation that is largely symbolic and infrequently enforced . . . has significant pedagogic value. Laws teach people what they should and should not do, based on the experience of their elders. The states should not be required to accept, as a matter of constitutional doctrine, that homosexual activity is harmless and does not expose individuals and the public to deleterious spiritual and physical consequences."
On what he calls "the erosion of self-government"
"For more than 30 years, the liberal agenda has been pushed through the courts, without a vote of either the people or their representatives. The courts have imposed results on a wide range of issues, including racial quotas, school prayer, abortion, and homosexual rights."
On guns
"As a law enforcement official, I know crimes are caused by criminals, not by the gun industry. Indeed, by providing good-quality firearms at reasonable prices to law-abiding citizens and lawmen, the gun industry helps reduce crime."
