Judge William H. Pryor, Jr.: Professional Background and Legal Expertise

The Hon. William H. Pryor, Jr. is a judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit. Pryor was nominated to the bench by President George W. Bush on February 20, 2004, filling a seat vacated by the Hon. Emmett Ripley Cox. The United States Senate confirmed his appointment on June 9, 2005.

During his judicial tenure, Pryor has served as Chief U.S. Circuit Judge of the 9th Circuit (2020 to present) and as a commissioner for the United States Sentencing Commission (2013 to 2018), holding an assignment as acting chair.

Prior to his nomination to the bench, he was the attorney general for Alabama, a position to which former Governor Fob James appointed him in 1997. Pryor began with the office as a deputy attorney general under then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions in 1995.

Before that, he spent seven years in Alabama’s private sector. In 1988, Pryor joined Cabaniss, Johnston, Gardner, Dumas & O'Neal. Then, in 1991, he moved his practice to Walston, Stabler, Wells, Anderson & Bains, where he practiced for four years. He supplemented his law firm work as an adjunct professor at Samford University's Cumberland School of Law. In 2006, he became a visiting professor at the University of Alabama School of Law, where he teaches a course on the interpretation of legal texts. Pryor also performed a stint as a judicial law clerk to the Hon. John Minor Wisdom of the United States Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit (1987 to 1988).

He received a bachelor’s degree in legal studies from Northeast Louisiana University in 1984. Pryor went on to complete a J.D. at Tulane University Law School in 1987. While a law student, he was editor-in-chief of the Tulane Law Review.

His memberships include the American Law Institute and as an adviser for the Restatement of the Law Third, Conflict of Laws. Pryor is co-author of the legal treatise, The Law of Judicial Precedent. He has also published in several law reviews, including the Yale Law Journal, Columbia Law Review, Virginia Law Review, Notre Dame Law Review, Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy, and Yale Law & Policy Review. Pryor has also been involved with the National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution.

He received the Defender of the Constitution Award from the Heritage Foundation, the Jurist of the Year Award from the Texas Review of Law & Politics, and the St. Thomas More Award from the St. Thomas More Society of Atlanta.

Pryor, who was born in Mobile, Alabama, was raised in a devout Roman Catholic family. The son of a band director, he attended McGill-Toolen Catholic High School in Mobile.