William Holcombe Pryor Jr. (born April 26, 1962) is an American lawyer who has served as the chief judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit since 2020.

Pryor said that although he agreed with the propriety of displaying the Ten Commandments in a courthouse, he was bound to follow the court order and uphold the rule of law.

[11] In 2014, the United States Supreme Court held that Hinton's trial lawyer was "constitutionally deficient" because he failed to research how much money he could obtain for an expert witness.

"[14] Pryor was nominated to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit by president George W. Bush on April 9, 2003, to fill a seat vacated by judge Emmett Ripley Cox, who had assumed senior status.

[citation needed] Despite the fact that the 108th United States Congress was controlled by the Republican Party, Senate Democrats refused to allow Pryor to be confirmed, criticizing him as an extremist, citing statements he had made such as referring to the Supreme Court as "nine octogenarian lawyers" and saying that Roe v. Wade was the "worst abomination in the history of constitutional law.

"[19][20][21] Due to a filibuster of his nomination, George W. Bush installed Pryor as a circuit court judge on February 20, 2004, using a recess appointment to bypass the regular Senate confirmation process.

[27][failed verification] President Barack Obama nominated Pryor to serve as a commissioner on the United States Sentencing Commission on April 15, 2013.

[31] The complaint alleged that Pryor hired Clanton despite knowledge of reports that she had sent multiple racist texts to colleagues in her student group, Turning Point USA, including one reading "I hate Black People.

"[32] After working at Turning Point USA, Clanton had lived with Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and his wife, who wrote a letter to the Second Circuit stating that "She is a good and decent young woman who has had to overcome some challenging difficulties in life only to be smeared by others who would collapse if this happened to their own children.”[32] On July 8, 2022, the Judicial Conference's Committee on Judicial Conduct and Disability sent the case back to the Second Circuit, writing that "[b]ecause a special committee was not appointed to investigate the complaints, there is not enough information in the record to determine how the matter should be concluded.

[34] Based on guidance that it received from the Executive Committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States, the Second Circuit ruled that its original decision dismissing the complaint against Pryor and Maze was "final and conclusive.

"[35] On May 16, 2016, then-presidential candidate Donald Trump released a list of eleven individuals from which he would pick to fill the vacancy left on the Supreme Court by the death of Antonin Scalia, including Pryor.

[61] At a Republican primary debate in South Carolina, Trump said the following about Supreme Court nominations "we could have a Diane Sykes or you could have a Bill Pryor, we have some fantastic people.