By Alabama Public Radio
Atlanta, GA – The Eleventh U-S Circuit Court of Appeals is asking the Bush administration to defend the president's appointment of former Alabama Attorney General Bill Pryor to the federal branch. Monday the court asked the Department of Justice to intervene in the civil rights case filed against Pryor's appointment. President Bush made the appointment in February while the U-S Senate was in a one-week recess. Senator Edward Kennedy and others are asking the court to rule the appointment was unconstitutional because it was made during a short break and not at the end of a Congress or the recess between annual sessions.