Gay press seems determined to let the public know that Trump SCOTUS candidate Bill Pryor is a homophobic hypocrite with ties to 1990s gay porn

From Metro Weekly

One of last week's biggest stories was the release of Donald Trump's list of possible nominees for the U.S. Supreme Court. One of the names on the list was Alabama-based federal judge Bill Pryor, who posed nude for photographs that wound up at the gay-porn Web site badpuppy.com in the late 1990s. Trump might be worth billions, but he apparently can't afford to hire a researcher who might have learned about Bill Pryor's background with a simple Google search. After all, we broke the story in fall 2013--including a photo of a young Bill Pryor in the full-frontal altogether--and it garnered significant attention in the Web press.

Perhaps the story hasn't gone viral, but that might change--if the gay press has it's way. It already has generated some Web images for the ages. (See images at the beginning and end of this post.)

Metro Weekly, the largest and longest-running LGBT publication in the Washington, D.C., area, seemed to take special delight in covering the Trump/Pryor connection:

Pryor, who is notorious for his homophobic views, apparently appeared nude in a print publication in the ’80s — his photos were then obtained by badpuppy.com, a gay pornography website, in 1997. Legal Schnauzer broke the story in 2013, obtaining the images which are claimed to show Pryor baring all for the camera.

An unnamed Alabama Republican reportedly saw the photos and exclaimed: “Holy cow, that’s Bill Pryor!”

While Metro Weekly obviously had fun with the story--as evidenced by the hilarious image it produced at the top of this post--it also addressed the serious implications:

Pryor, who is married with two children, denies that it is him in the photos. If that assertion is false, it makes his previous comments on LGBT rights deeply hypocritical. According to Lambda Legal, Pryor has “repeatedly shown clear hostility to the rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people and those with HIV.”

“William Pryor is the most demonstrably antigay judicial nominee in recent memory. It’s clear from his record that William Pryor does not belong on the federal appeals court,” said former Executive Director Kevin Cathcart in 2005, when Pryor was being vetted for his current position.

Pryor has previously drawn comparisons between the rights of gay people and “prostitution, adultery, necrophilia, bestiality, possession of child pornography, and even incest and pedophilia,” in a brief submitted during Lawrence v. Texas, which led to the state’s anti-sodomy law being struck down.

The blog Unicorn Booty, which must have an enormous readership based on the traffic we've received from there over the weekend, took a snarky approach to the Trump/Pryor story:

This week, human buttplug Donald Trump’s named his dream-team picks for the U.S. Supreme Court (we say “dream team” because a Trump presidency would be a fucking nightmare). Among his picks was William H. “Bill” Pryor Jr., a grown-up twink who thinks gay people should be jailed for having sex. The delicious twist: the homophobe might have appeared in gay porn during his 20s.

In 2013, the blog Legal Schnauzer unearthed some nude images that look a lot like Pryor and then showed them to an anonymous Alabama Republican who reportedly exclaimed, “Holy cow, that’s Bill Pryor!” Legal Schnauzer thinks that the images were taken during Pryor’s years at Northeast Louisiana University in the early ’80s and they re-emerged on the web during the ’90s in a file of pics labeled “Bill Pryor”. Pryor has understandably denied the allegations.

The gay news site Queerty, which also must have a huge audience, laid on an additional layer of snark:

You will no doubt be shocked to hear that a crazily homophobic federal judge has been tied to a gay sex scandal. But here’s the fun twist this time: Donald Trump is thinking about nominating him to the Supreme Court.

The man in question is William Holcombe “Bill” Pryor Jr., an eleventh-circuit judge and former Attorney General of Alabama. He’s married (to a woman), has two daughters, and he really really really hates queers. He’s said that queer people should be arrested for having consensual sex in their homes; that being gay is harmful; and he voted to keep kids in orphanages rather than allow them to go to supportive same-sex adoptive parents. Trump says he’d consider Pryor for the Supreme Court.

What a bunch of jerks.

He is also, allegedly, featured in nude photographs that floated around on BadPuppy in the 90s. It sure looks like him! The man in the picture is looking glumly at the camera, on full display, and is identified as “Bill Pryor.” Various unnamed officials have identified the photo as authentic; but then again, it’s easy to claim all kinds of things anonymously.

For his part, Pryor says it’s not him, just like every other Republican asshole caught doing something sexual.

For now, Trump hasn’t said anything about Pryor’s potentially-naked past. But lots of other legitimate legal observers have heard the rumors, and are only too happy to spread them. Maybe that’s the silver lining to Trump’s impending presidency: it’ll force some truly shocking secrets out into the open.

Finally, The Sword, adds to the hilarity. (See image at the end of this post.) But it also takes a serious look at the politics involved:

The fact that virulently anti-gay Justice Bill Pryor allegedly appeared on a gay porn site is a big deal. But now that he’s appeared on the Donald’s SCOTUS list, it’s a huge deal.

Worst case scenario would be having to endure Trump/Palin for eight years. But if they get to pick a SCOTUS judge, America will have to live with that appointment for a lifetime. Justice Pryor would let states jail LGBT people for having sex in their homes. Have I got your attention now?

Within the law, of course, what Judge Pryor or anyone may have done with their penis as a college student, i.e. posing for gay porn pictures, should have no bearing on their judicial aptitude. This is about what he has done and potentially will do with his gavel. . . .
Regardless of how your candidate fairs in the primary, don’t let sour grapes sour our future. Come Election Day; it’s more crucial than ever to vote for the Democratic nominee and elect a Democratic House and Senate that will advance their agenda and confirm their SCOTUS picks.

Donald Trump is right about one thing: this could be huge.

From The Sword

With Anthony Kennedy retiring at SCOTUS, will Trump overlook Bll Pryor's history with gay porn and Bad Puppy to pick a closeted nominee from Alabama?

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Federal judge Bill Pryor's history in gay-pornography, like a ghost that won't go away, rears its head again with the emergence of nudie photograph No. 4

Bill Pryor No. 1, with special guest
Donald Trump
(From Metro Weekly)

Bill Pryor, the fiercely anti-LGBT federal judge who almost became Donald Trump's nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS), has a gay-porn past that keeps on giving.

We broke the story in September 2013 of Pryor's appearance at badpuppy.com, a Cocoa, Florida-based site that has grown to become a "super store" of gay-porn images. Less than one week after the story broke, and became somewhat of a viral Web sensation, deputies from Shelby County, Alabama, started making regular appearances (in twos and threes, with multiple vehicles) on our property. Less than a month after that, Deputy Chris Blevins entered our basement garage (without showing a warrant, stating he had a warrant, or stating his purpose for being on the premises) and beat me up, doused me with pepper spray, and hauled me to the Shelby County Jail for a five-month stay.

That's the price you pay for reporting accurately and forcefully about judicial and political corruption -- most of it Republican based -- in a Deep Red state. And you thought the First Amendment protected your rights to free speech and a free press.

I unearthed gay-porn photo No. 1 and broke the original story with old-fashioned, shoe-leather journalism. But the story has not ended there. We are blessed with a bunch of dedicated and sharp-eyed readers, and they have found other nudie photos of Pryor, part of a gallery that reportedly included eight to 12 images.

Bill Pryor No. 2

Readers helped us publish gay-porn photo No. 2 on March 22, 2017. That's the one featuring a youthful Pryor, then an undergraduate at Northeast Louisiana University (now the University of Louisiana Monroe, ULM), straddling a block of wood -- he's got wood, get it?

Photo No. 3, again dug up by enterprising readers, ran on April 5, 2017. It featured Pryor holding what we thought was a gourd, with a male face drawn on it. This seemed to mark a major step forward in artistic expression for the future federal judge. A helpful reader informed us that Pryor actually was holding a coconut, not a gourd. (See, I told you we had smart readers.)

Now, Legal Schnauzer readers have struck again, helping ensure that gay-porn photo No. 4 would land in our laps. (Isn't teamwork fun?) I never dreamed that we would wind up with a full, or almost full, gallery to Bill Pryor's nudie oeuvre. But at the rate our readers are digging things up, I think we might just make it -- and it might not take too much longer.

(Note: Redacted versions of photos 1-3 are published within this post. Links to NSFW versions of the photos, plus an amusing meme about Trump's one-time infatuation with Pryor, are at the end of this post.)

Photo No. 4 has appeared at three tumblr sites, that we know of: (Warning: All three links contain explicit images.)

* Oldies But Hotties!

* Vintage Gay

* Who's a Big Boy?

Our plans are to run photo No. 4 later this week. While this story undeniably has titillating qualities -- or perhaps "prickly qualities" would be a more accurate term -- there is serious junk going on beneath the surface. (He said "junk" . . . uh huh . . . uh huh.)

Multiple press reports during the 2016 presidential campaign indicated Pryor was the favorite to be Trump's choice for SCOTUS. Those reports picked up steam when U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), long a champion of Pryor's career (perhaps because of the pair's deeply personal attachment), became the first major political figure to jump on the Trump Train -- eventually being named attorney general and lying during his confirmation hearings about meetings with a Russian ambassador.

Bill Pryor No. 3, with special guest
"Mr. Coconut"

Why did Pryor's SCOTUS hopes sink into the depths, with the seat eventually going to Neil Gorsuch, of Colorado? We addressed that issue in a recent post, titled "Did Legal Schnauzer reporting on his nude photos at the badpuppy.com gay-pornography Web site cost Alabama's Bill Pryor a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court?" From that post:

Alabama federal judge Bill Pryor came in no better than third last night in the race to become Donald Trump's first (and, hopefully, only) nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court. That was quite a fall for a candidate who widely was considered the front-runner just a few weeks ago. And that raises this question: Did our reporting here at Legal Schnauzer about Pryor's ties to 1990s gay pornography cost him a lifetime appointment on the nation's highest court?

I don't know the answer to that question, and I admit that even raising it sounds like I'm tooting my own horn. (Perhaps that's because I am tooting my own horn.) But a number of intelligent people I like and admire -- a doctor, a retired lawyer, my wife -- have told me in recent days they thought Pryor's fading prospects were directly related to our reports about his nudie photos that appeared at badpuppy.com in the 1990s. The hypocrisy, my friends and loved ones said, of an ardently anti-gay rights judge appearing at a gay-porn Web site (in photos taken during his college days in the 1980s), would be too much for the Trump administration to stomach.

Here's more:

The conventional wisdom holds that Pryor's star fell because Team Trump was concerned his controversial statements about abortion rights, gay rights, privacy, and other hot-button cultural issues would make it difficult to get him confirmed. That might be the case, but such a scenario suggests reasonable, rational, and deliberate thought -- and we've seen no sign that exists in the Trump White House.

So, did Legal Schnauzer cause Pryor's downfall? (Hah! Sorry, couldn't contain myself.) Well, my friends and loved ones say they've seen signs that our reports about Pryor's BadPuppy days have made their way into conservative circles. And that, they say, spelled doom for Pryor, especially in the homophobic environment of the modern GOP.

For now, we don't know for sure what caused Pryor's slide, even though Jeff Sessions surely was whispering sweet nothings about his "boy toy" into the head Cheeto's ears. Heck, Pryor might even be resurrected for a future SCOTUS seat if Trump and Sessions can avoid being indicted long enough.

But here's the key point: At the rate our readers are digging up gay-porn photos of Pryor, we might have a full set before long. You can't say much positive about the Trump administration in its first 100 days, but there is this: The "Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight" does appear to be somewhat Web savvy. Mr. Orange himself is the diabolical prince of Twitter, so it's hard to imagine that word of Pryor's adventures in homo-erotica have not reached 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue -- assuming Trump is ever there.

Will our readers ensure that Bill Pryor's judicial career goes into a deep, quiet slumber? Looks to me like they are well on their way.

From The Sword

Bill Pryor No. 1 (NSFW)


Bill Pryor No. 2 (NSFW)


Bill Pryor No. 3 (NSFW)

Would Donald Trump nominate Bill Pryor to the U.S. Supreme Court, despite Pryor's ties to 1990s gay pornography via the badpuppy.com Web site?

An edited version of Bill Pryor's photo
at the badpuppy.com gay "super store"
Web site.

Donald Trump is known for hiring and firing people on The Apprentice and Celebrity Apprentice. He often brags that he surrounds himself with the best and brightest people, suggesting he and his staff are adept at conducting background checks.

That might apply to Donald Trump, businessman and reality-TV star. But it apparently does not apply to Donald Trump, presidential candidate.

At Saturday night's Republican debate, Trump mentioned U.S. Circuit Judge Bill Pryor as someone he might nominate to the U.S. Supreme Court. Pryor's duty station is the Hugo Black Courthouse in downtown Birmingham, he lives in the Birmingham suburb of Vestavia Hills, and he is a former attorney general of Alabama.

Many people who closely follow politics and legal issues in Alabama know Bill Pryor has enough skeletons in his closet to outfit a haunted house. This apparently is unknown to Donald Trump.

Donald Trump

Pryor's most glaring skeleton involves his connections to 1990s gay pornography, via a Web site called badpuppy.com. As we first reported in September 2013, nude photos of Pryor (complete with glaring erection) appeared in the early days of badpuppy.com, which has gone on to become a sort of "online superstore for gay porn," from its base near Cocoa, Florida. (Photos at the link above include a full-frontal version of one Pryor photo; a discreetly edited version of the photo can be seen at the top of this post.)

Pryor is a staunch opponent of gay rights, and the photos suggest he is a world-class hypocrite. From our initial report:

The photos appeared in 1997 on badpuppy.com, which was in its online infancy, having debuted in mid 1995. Based in Cocoa, Florida, the site has morphed into one of the largest gay porn sites on the Web.

Images obtained by Legal Schnauzer show Pryor posing completely nude, staring into the camera and sporting a noticeable erection. We see no indication that the photos were taken surreptitiously, without Pryor's knowledge. Sources say Pryor was college age when the photos were taken.

Pryor rose to national prominence in Republican circles on the basis of a staunchly conservative record, including consistent opposition to gay rights. He also has supported school prayer and the death penalty, while opposing abortion rights, making him a highly unpopular figure among liberal and progressive interest groups.

A married father of two, Pryor lives in Vestavia Hills and his federal-court duty station is in Alabama, with an office on the ninth floor of the Hugo Black Federal Courthouse in downtown Birmingham. Pryor revealed during his confirmation hearings that he and his wife, Kristan W. Pryor, rescheduled a family vacation to Disney World when they discovered the Orlando, Florida, theme park had scheduled "Gay Days" festivities at the same time as their planned visit.

How did the photos first come to light, and how did Pryor react when asked to comment on them? We addressed that in our initial post:

Alabama law-enforcement officials became aware of the photos at badpuppy.com in 1997, not long before Governor Fob James appointed Pryor attorney general. An investigation ensued, and multiple officials familiar with that process have told Legal Schnauzer that the photos are, in fact, of the Bill Pryor who now sits on the U.S. Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. Sources say the photos were taken while Pryor was a student at Northeast Louisiana University (now University of Louisiana Monroe) from 1980 to 1984.

Legal Schnauzer contacted Judge Pryor last Friday via e-mail, seeking an interview about the photographs and their possible implications for his role on the federal bench. Pryor responded as follows:

"I have nothing to say to you except that these accusations are totally false. 

Do not contact me again. 

Bill Pryor"

I replied by stating that these are not "accusations," they are photographs of an individual that multiple sources have identified as him. I further stated that I had every right, as a citizen and a journalist, to seek comment from a public official with a lifetime appointment, regarding matters of national importance. For good measure, I attached copies of the photographs. Pryor responded as follows:

"This is the last time I will respond to you. Those photos are not of me. 

Do not contact me again. 

Bill Pryor"

Pryor said the photos were not of him, even though badpuppy.com attached the name "Bill Pryor" to them, and the young man in the photos bears a striking resemblance to the judge. Was Pryor willing to sit down for a one-on-one interview, answering questions about the photos? No, he was not. Was Pryor willing to present family photos from his college days that might support his claim that the young man shown at badpuppy was not him? No, he was not.

Bill Pryor at a badpuppy.com photo gallery.

When national reporters sought comment about the story, Pryor would not talk to them either. He trotted out a former law clerk named Jennifer Bandy to "issue a statement." Even Bandy would not take questions, it appears. Bandy now is with the Washington, D.C.-based law firm Kirkland and Ellis, so it appears her ties to Pryor--and her willingness to make herself look like a fool in public on his behalf--have paid off nicely.

Perhaps of most interest, the young man in the photo clearly has strabismus, a fairly rare condition that involves misalignment or crossing of the eyes. Recent photos of Pryor suggest he has strabismus, although it appears treatment (usually surgery) has improved his condition. Even if that is the case, multiple sources who have seen Pryor in person, up close, say his strabismus is quite noticeable.

In a post dated October 17, 2013, we addressed the issue of strabismus in the Pryor/gay porn story. We sought to interview him on the subject, via an e-mail that reads as follows:

Bill: 

This is a followup on my reporting at Legal Schnauzer.

Do you have a condition known as strabismus, which is a crossing or misalignment of the eyes? Have you ever been treated for strabismus?

Would you release copies of your medical records as it relates to any and all eye care?

Thank you,

Roger Shuler

Pryor did not respond to our query. He apparently wanted no part of the strabismus question.

How could Donald Trump and his team not know about Bill Pryor's dicey past? It's not as if this story did not receive widespread, national coverage. Among the many news and cultural sites that covered it was Above the Law, the No. 1 law blog in North America. (Legal Schnauzer is No. 37, thank you very much, according to a Chicago-based Web research and marketing firm called Cision.) Title of the Above the Law article: "Underneath his Robes: Nude Photos of a Federal Judge."

Has Team Trump not heard of Google?

Since Donald Trump put Bill Pryor's name back on the nation's front burner, we will try again to interview the Alabama-based judge about the gay pornography in his past. We will let you know how that works out.

Nude Photographs Of Federal Judge Bill Pryor Appeared In The 1990s On A Gay Pornography Site

U.S. Judge Bill Pryor

(WARNING: This report includes an explicit photograph at the end of the post. The photograph was captured from a gay porn Web site. The photo has been redacted -- with genitals blurred -- to ease concerns about full-frontal male nudity.)

Nude photographs of federal judge Bill Pryor appeared in the 1990s on a gay pornography Web site, a Legal Schnauzer investigation shows.

The photos appeared in 1997 on badpuppy.com, which was in its online infancy, having debuted in mid 1995. Based in Cocoa, Florida, the site has morphed into one of the largest gay porn sites on the Web.

Images obtained by Legal Schnauzer show Pryor posing completely nude, staring into the camera and sporting a noticeable erection. We see no indication that the photos were taken surreptitiously, without Pryor's knowledge. Sources say Pryor was college age when the photos were taken.

Pryor rose to national prominence in Republican circles on the basis of a staunchly conservative record, including consistent opposition to gay rights. He also has supported school prayer and the death penalty, while opposing abortion rights, making him a highly unpopular figure among liberal and progressive interest groups.

A married father of two, Pryor lives in Vestavia Hills and his federal-court duty station is in Alabama, with an office on the ninth floor of the Hugo Black Federal Courthouse in downtown Birmingham. Pryor revealed during his confirmation hearings that he and his wife, Kristan W. Pryor, rescheduled a family vacation to Disney World when they discovered the Orlando, Florida, theme park had scheduled "Gay Days" festivities at the same time as their planned visit.

What is the public to make of revelations that Pryor once was featured on a gay porn Web site? It clearly raises questions about rank hypocrisy, dating to the beginnings of Pryor's political career. It also raises the specter of Pryor being ethically compromised to the point that he is the victim of not-so-subtle blackmail, forced to participate in rulings that he knows are unlawful, at risk of his secrets being revealed. Most importantly, federal nominees typically are asked during the confirmation process about potentially embarrassing or compromising information in their backgrounds. If Pryor failed to disclose the gay-porn photographs, or did not answer a specific question truthfully under oath, it could be grounds for a Senate investigation.

G. Thomas Porteous Jr., a federal judge in Louisiana, was removed from the bench in 2010, and one of the articles of impeachment against him involved charges that he intentionally misled the Senate during his confirmation process.

Alabama law-enforcement officials became aware of the photos at badpuppy.com in 1997, not long before Governor Fob James appointed Pryor attorney general. An investigation ensued, and multiple officials familiar with that process have told Legal Schnauzer that the photos are, in fact, of the Bill Pryor who now sits on the U.S. Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. Sources say the photos were taken while Pryor was a student at Northeast Louisiana University (now University of Louisiana Monroe) from 1980 to 1984.

Legal Schnauzer contacted Judge Pryor last Friday via e-mail, seeking an interview about the photographs and their possible implications for his role on the federal bench. Pryor responded as follows:

I have nothing to say to you except that these accusations are totally false.

Do not contact me again.

Bill Pryor 

I replied by stating that these are not "accusations," they are photographs of an individual that multiple sources have identified as him. I further stated that I had every right, as a citizen and a journalist, to seek comment from a public official with a lifetime appointment, regarding matters of national importance. For good measure, I attached copies of the photographs. Pryor responded as follows:

This is the last time I will respond to you. Those photos are not of me.

Do not contact me again.

Bill Pryor

I informed Pryor that I would include his response in my upcoming series of posts.

A screenshot from a group of photos titled "WizardBoy Gallery #19" shows a head shot of an individual, and beside that is the name "Bill Pryor." It also includes the name "Tom Wander," with links to 15 pictures.

The Pryor photos likely appeared in at least one print publication in the 1980s and remained relatively unknown until an informant provided a tip to investigators with the Alabama Bureau of Investigations (ABI) that they had appeared in the digital world. A number of prominent Republicans became aware of the photos once they hit badpuppy.com, and a major Republican business/political figure confronted Pryor about them, a source tells Legal Schnauzer. The photos disappeared from badpuppy.com one day after that meeting, but ABI investigators already had captured screen shots that are dated September 17, 1997. (One of the screen shots can be viewed at the end of this post. Warning: The screen shot involves full-frontal male nudity, taken from a gay porn site.)

Even though major political figures were aware of the photos, they did not prove to be a hurdle when President George W. Bush nominated Pryor to the federal bench in 2003 and installed him via a recess appointment in February 2004. The staunchly right-wing Pryor was perhaps the most controversial nominee of the Bush presidency. A bipartisan "Gang of 14" U.S. senators reached an agreement to allow an up-or-down vote on Pryor and two other nominees, and they were confirmed by a 53-45 margin on June 9, 2005.

Were the FBI and the Senate Judiciary Committee made aware of Pryor's connections to gay porn during his confirmation process? Our sources say the answer almost certainly is no, and in fact, the photos might have helped him get nominated over numerous conservative candidates who had far more judicial experience in the Eleventh Circuit. Pryor was elected Alabama attorney general in 1998, and was re-elected in 2002, but he had never served in a judicial capacity at the time of his nomination.

Why then was Pryor chosen, when many experts saw Sharon Lovelace Blackburn (now presiding judge in the Northern District of Alabama) as among numerous more qualified candidates? Our sources say high-level Republicans, likely including White House strategist Karl Rove, knew the gay-porn photos put Pryor in a weak position--and they would make him easy to control on the bench. (More on this angle of the story coming in future posts.)

Rove and Republican operative Bill Canary helped manage Pryor's 1998 campaign for attorney general. Pryor went on to become a central figure in perhaps the most notorious political prosecution in American history. As Alabama attorney general, Pryor launched an investigation of Governor Don Siegelman that morphed into a federal probe, under U.S. Attorney Leura Canary (Bill Canary's wife).

Siegelman appeared to have won re-election in 2002 when it was announced late on election night that he held a slight edge over Republican Bob Riley. The race was ultra close in large part because of press coverage about the investigation that Pryor had launched.

Alabamians awoke the next morning to news that votes for Siegelman had disappeared overnight in heavily Republican Baldwin County, shifting the election to Riley. Pryor ordered the ballots sealed and stated that anyone who attempted a recount would be subject to arrest.

Siegelman attempted a political comeback in 2006, and polls showed him as the favorite at one point. But those plans were derailed when the federal investigation led to indictments on corruption charges. The former governor and HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy wound up being convicted on charges many legal experts have characterized as standard political behavior that does not amount to violations of criminal statutes. Multiple appeals from Siegelman and Scrushy have been denied in the Atlanta-based Eleventh Circuit, where Bill Pryor now sits.

As for badpuppy.com, it was relatively unknown when the Bill Pryor photos appeared there. But the site has exploded in popularity, becoming what appears to be the "Wal-Mart of gay porn." It bills itself as "a massive gay porn supersite," featuring free movies that are recorded and broadcast in high definition.

The site's entry page states that it has "been continuously online since May 17, 1995." Badpuppy was the first gay adult membership site and features both amateur men and professional gay porn stars. The brand hosts 30 additional Web sites that form the "Badpuppy Network."

Badpuppy's operators clearly are in the business of making money, and going by the site's huge presence on the Internet, they must be doing a good job of it. The site's founders probably never imagined they might someday help rattle the American political and judicial landscape. But images from Badpuppy's early days could morph into one of the most shocking judicial scandals in modern American history.

Below is a screen shot of Bill Pryor, captured from badpuppy.com, September 17, 1997.


(To be continued)

Roy Moore supporters scuttled Bill Pryor's chances for SCOTUS seat, but new report doesn't tell full story about Pryor's ties to badpuppy.com and gay porn

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Is Donald Trump serious when he claims that Bill Pryor, with nude pictures at badpuppy.com gay-porn Web site in his background, is fit for SCOTUS?

Bill Pryor
(From badpuppy.com)

Those who think Donald Trump is not a serious presidential candidate received new ammunition yesterday with the release of a list of individuals Trump considers possible nominees to the U.S. Supreme Court. Included on the list is an Alabama judge who posed nude during his college days for a series of photographs that wound up at the badpuppy.com gay-pornography Web site in the late '90s.

William H. "Bill" Pryor's foray into gay porn probably is more substantive than anything he's done as a judge. President George W. Bush nominated the virulently homophobic Pryor to the U.S. Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals in 2003, even though the Alabama attorney general had zero experience as a judge--not even in municipal or traffic court.

What were Pryor's credentials? Well, he was a passionate member of the Federalist Society, and he launched a state investigation of former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman before the Democrat's fanny had barely hit the seat in his new office. That state probe led to a federal prosecution that landed Siegelman at Oakdale (LA) Federal Correctional Institution, where he still resides today. It is widely believed that Karl Rove, "Bush's Brain," orchestrated the Siegelman prosecution and rewarded Pryor for his key role with a nomination to the 11th Circuit.

That was long before Pryor's ties to gay porn became widely known when we broke the story in fall 2013. What's the story behind the nude photos of a college student who, despite his painfully thin resume, grew up to be a federal judge? Here's how we described it in a post dated Sept. 17, 2013: (Warning: If you click on this link and scroll to the bottom of the post, you will find the original Pryor photo, unedited. If you are squeamish about full-frontal male nudity, we advise caution if you choose to click on the link.)

Nude photographs of federal judge Bill Pryor appeared in the 1990s on a gay pornography Web site, a Legal Schnauzer investigation shows.

The photos appeared in 1997 on badpuppy.com, which was in its online infancy, having debuted in mid 1995. Based in Cocoa, Florida, the site has morphed into one of the largest gay porn sites on the Web.

Images obtained by Legal Schnauzer show Pryor posing completely nude, staring into the camera and sporting a noticeable erection. We see no indication that the photos were taken surreptitiously, without Pryor's knowledge. Sources say Pryor was college age when the photos were taken.

Is there doubt about the photographs' authenticity? Well, a major Republican political figure in Alabama was shown the pictures in the late '90s and immediately exclaimed, "Holy Cow, That's Bill Pryor!" A former female political journalist at a Birmingham news outlet was shown the photos and reportedly guffawed and semi-fainted at the same time. Did either of those insiders express any doubt that it was Bill Pryor in the photo? Nope.

Judge Bill Pryor
(From nbcnews.com)

It should be noted that the young man in the nude photos clearly has a condition called strabismus, which is a crossing of the eyes. The condition is apparent in recent photos of Pryor, although it appears he's had treatment (likely surgery) to improve the condition. Sources who have seen Pryor in person recently say the strabismus remains noticeable. We asked for an interview with Pryor about the strabismus issue and asked if he would turn over his medical records for inspection. He did not respond.

Here's more about the photographs' history:

Alabama law-enforcement officials became aware of the photos at badpuppy.com in 1997, not long before Governor Fob James appointed Pryor attorney general. An investigation ensued, and multiple officials familiar with that process have told Legal Schnauzer that the photos are, in fact, of the Bill Pryor who now sits on the U.S. Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. Sources say the photos were taken while Pryor was a student at Northeast Louisiana University (now University of Louisiana Monroe) from 1980 to 1984.

Legal Schnauzer contacted Judge Pryor last Friday via e-mail, seeking an interview about the photographs and their possible implications for his role on the federal bench. Pryor responded as follows:

I have nothing to say to you except that these accusations are totally false. Do not contact me again. Bill Pryor.

I replied by reminding Pryor that these were not "accusations"; they were photographs where multiple sources had identified him as the subject.  Pryor still was not willing to grant an interview on the subject:

This is the last time I will respond to you. Those photos are not of me. Do not contact me again. Bill Pryor

If the photos were not of Pryor, wouldn't it be easy for the judge to invite an inquisitive reporter to his office at the Hugo Black Courthouse in downtown Birmingham, lay out several family photos of himself from the undergrad days, show that he didn't look then like the young man in the photo (with a noticeable erection), and put the story to bed? That would seem like an easy way to handle it. But Pryor never has done that.

Instead, the story was picked up by Above the Law, the nation's No. 1 legal blog, plus dozens of other blogs and news sites. When other journalists sent queries to Pryor, he responded by having a former law clerk send out a canned statement.

Perhaps most troubling of all is reports that the secrets in Pryor's past actually helped his judicial career--that he was nominated to the bench so he would be vulnerable to blackmail, ensuring that he would steer cases to outcomes favorable to conservative interests. Here's how we described it in a December 2014 post:

In fact, our sources say conservative forces pushed George W. Bush to make the appointment not because of any legal expertise on Pryor's part, but because his secrets make him controllable. [Journalist Wayne] Madsen calls Pryor a "gatekeeper" for Republican interests. Others have called him a "fixer," that he protects Karl Rove's agenda on the bench. Rove once served as Pryor's campaign manager in a race for Alabama attorney general.

Either way, Pryor appears to be a judge of dubious integrity.

Is this a sensitive topic in Alabama conservative circles? Well, roughly one week after I broke the Pryor/gay porn story, Shelby County deputies started showing up on our property (two and three at a time, in multiple vehicles), banging on doors and looking in our windows, even shining lights in our windows at dark. Less than one month after that, deputies broke into our basement garage as I was pulling our car in, assaulted me, doused me with pepper spray (while never showing a warrant, stating they had a warrant, or stating their reasons for being there) and hauled me to jail for a five-month stay. I probably would still be in jail (or dead) if my wife, Carol, had not managed to avoid being abducted (they were trying to arrest her, too) and was able to get word out about my arrest to the press.

WizardBoy photo gallery,
including Bill Pryor
(From badpuppy.com)

My incarceration received national and international news coverage. Substantial evidence suggests a group of right-wing bloggers, led by Ali Akbar and largely funded by GOP mega-donor Foster Friess, played a role in my arrest, which really was a state-sanctioned kidnapping.

As for Trump, this is not the first time he has floated Pryor's name as a possible SCOTUS nominee. He did it back in February, after Super Tuesday primaries. U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), who is Pryor's mentor and No. 1 political backer, became a Trump supporter early on and is considered a possible VP pick. Sessions likely has been whispering sweet nothings about Pryor in Trump's ear.

Is Trump completely ignorant of Pryor's past? It looks that way. Don Siegelman is one of the most knowledgeable people on the planet about Pryor, and his reaction to Trump's words in February were, well . . . rather harsh. Siegelman called Pryor "evil and pernicious," and that was just for starters. Here's more:

Pryor's background: Slipped in as a recess appointment of Bush. A protege and political client of Karl Rove, a state attorney general linked to Karl Rove's tobacco clients and large corporate interests refused to join in the national suit against Big Tobacco. His reasoning: "Poor people who smoke die faster, so they cost Alabama's Medicaid less money." Republican Arizona Attorney General, Grant Woods, later Co-Chair McCain for President, responded publicly saying: "Alabama would be better off with comedian Richard Pryor rather than Bill Pryor as its attorney general."

I've sought to interview Pryor at least three times about the gay-porn photos--and other issues. Each time, he has refused to take questions or even issue a substantive comment. In fact, he simply has not responded. I gave him another opportunity yesterday, via the following e-mail:

Roger Shuler

to: william_h_pryor_jr@ca11.uscourts.gov

date: Wed, May 18, 2016 at 4:15 PM

subject: Inquiry about Donald Trump, U.S. Supreme Court, and your appearance at badpuppy.com

mailed-by: gmail.com


Judge Pryor:

As I'm sure you know, Donald Trump yesterday mentioned you as a possible nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court. I would like to request an interview or a comment on this topic, especially in light of my fall 2013 reports about nude photos of you that appeared at the badpuppy.com gay pornography Web site.

I have requested interviews on this subject multiple times in the past, and you never have granted one. I repeat that request today and ask that the interview be done in the next 24-48 hours because this is a national, breaking story.

A few questions that quickly come to mind:

* Have you disclosed to the Trump campaign your appearance at badpuppy.com?

* Did you disclose this information to the U.S. Senate during your confirmation hearings after being nominated to the federal bench?

* Would it be appropriate for you to consider a SCOTUS nomination, given the gay-porn photos in your background--and your public statements indicating you oppose gay rights. Multiple sources say you were confronted about the photographs in roughly 1997, long before your nomination to the federal bench.

* What does the presence of such photographs say about your judgment and your suitability for a position on the federal bench, much less SCOTUS?

* Were you asked about these photographs--or other potentially embarrassing and/or corrupting background information--during the confirmation process for your position on the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals? If so, did you answer truthfully? If you failed to disclose this information, what does that say about your suitability for a role on the federal bench? Did you effectively lie to Congress?

Trump's comments represent a breaking story, so I ask that you respond to this e-mail by 5 p.m. on 5/20/16 (Friday).

Any chance Pryor will respond by 5 p.m. tomorrow? We will keep you posted.