“One thing we’ve really learned over the last few confirmations is, first of all, it doesn’t pay to try to get the stealth nominee,” said Carrie Severino, chief counsel of the conservative Judicial Crisis Network. “Republican nominees tend to shift dramatically when they get on the court. Going in with a blank slate is not a good move.”
Pryor is a 54-year-old Alabaman who got his law degree from Tulane University and is close with Trump’s choice for attorney general, Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama. Pryor’s appeals court nomination by President George W. Bush sparked a two-year, highly partisan battle before his confirmation in 2005.
Pryor’s outspoken nature — he once described the landmark Roe v. Wade abortion-rights ruling as the “worst abomination” of constitutional law in U.S. history — makes him perhaps the most contentious possible nominee for Trump.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member