In New Ads, Judicial Battle Is a Matter of Faith

The Washington Post

Ads run in Maine and Rhode Island newspapers last weekend show a sign hanging from closed doors under the words "Judicial Chambers." The sign reads: "Catholics need not apply."

The ads -- probably the toughest so far in the Senate's battle over President Bush's judicial nominations -- accuse "some in the U.S. Senate," apparently meaning Democrats, of opposing the appeals court nomination of Alabama Attorney General William H. Pryor Jr. because he is a devout Catholic.

The ads are being run by the Committee for Justice -- founded by C. Boyden Gray, a White House counsel in the administration of President George H.W. Bush, to help rally support for judicial nominees -- and the Ave Maria List, an organization of lay Catholics that works for the election of antiabortion candidates to Congress.

"Some in the U.S. Senate are attacking Bill Pryor for having 'deeply held' Catholic beliefs to prevent him from becoming a federal judge," the ads said. "Don't they know the Constitution expressly prohibits religious tests for public office?" ---

which is where Pryor is from. Many Republicans are Baptist there and strongly anti-Catholic.

Not because he got shaking down contributions