Posted on 01/30/2003 11:07:20 PM PST by hoosierskypilot
WASHINGTON - Senate Republicans, breaking a Democratic blockade against President Bush's key conservative judicial nominees, put Miguel Estrada a step closer Thurssday to becoming the first Hispanic on the U.S. Court of Appeals in the nation's capital.
On a 10-9 vote strictly along party lines, Republicans used their new majority from last fall's election to make Estrada, 41, the first conservative appeals court nominee to clear the Senate Judiciary Committee since Bush took office.
"The committee has spoken, progress is being made, the logjam in the Senate is now breaking," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said.
Aware that the appeals court often is a steppingstone to the Supreme Court, Democrats had waited 16 months after Bush nominated Estrada to give him a confirmation hearing last October. Afterward, they refused to schedule a vote on him, complaining that Estrada had evaded their questions about his legal views.
"I have to tell you it was sort of reminiscent of Clarence Thomas telling America that he had never discussed Roe versus Wade and had no views on this case whatsoever," said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. "It's just not credible. It's not believable that this nominee has no critical views on any Supreme Court case."
The committee's action sends Estrada's nomination to the full Senate, where a filibuster is the primary option left to Democrats for blocking it. With a two-vote majority, Republicans hope for a vote as early as Tuesday.
"It'll be an intensive debate and they'll fight against him, but I think in the end we'll be able to get Miguel out," said the committee chairman, Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah.
Democratic senators plan to discuss tactics over the weekend and make a decision about what they will do, said Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass. "No judgment, no decision has been made," he said.
Estrada, a member of the law firm that represented Bush in his successful Supreme Court fight for the presidency, is considered a potential Supreme Court nominee should a vacancy occurs while Bush is in the White House. The D.C. appeals court has provided three of the current Supreme Court justices.
The Washington lawyer, who came to the United States as a teenager from Honduras, graduated from Harvard Law School in 1986. He has practiced constitutional law and argued 15 cases before the high court.
Hatch accused liberals of opposing Estrada simply because of his ethnicity and political views. He would become the first Hispanic on the circuit court in Washington if confirmed.
Some liberals want "to smear anyone who would be a positive role model for Hispanics and who might be a constitutionalist rather than a liberal judicial activist, or might be conservative or perish the thought, Republican," Hatch said.
But Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the committee's top Democrat, took issue with that assertion. "The fact that a nominee is Latino should not be a shield from full inquiry," Leahy said.
Estrada has caused his own problem, said Schumer. "By remaining silent, Mr. Estrada only buttressed the fear that he's a far-right stealth nominee, a sphinxlike candidate who will drive the nation's second most-important court out of the mainstream," he said.
At a five-hour confirmation hearing last year, Estrada insisted he could set aside any personal or political opinions if confirmed. A judge should put aside personal opinions and "look at each case - starting by withholding judgment - with an open mind," Estrada said at the time.
Estrada is the first of 33 district and appeals court nominees to get a vote in this year's committee. Most of those nominees were not voted on last year. With the Democrats in Senate control, 100 judicial nominees were confirmed in 2001 and 2002.
Hatch said he hoped to hold committee votes next week on three other appellate court nominees - Jeff Sutton, Deborah Cook and John Roberts - although Democrats are likely to ask for a one-week delay. The committee also plans to hold a confirmation hearing next Wednesday for Jay Bybee, who wants a seat on the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Bring it on you Dim Wits .. Let's put it on record exactly what Senators are against Estrada
Your voters would like to know
IF the roles had been reversed, and the rats had been conservatives, the Media would have portrayed this as a KKK Clan Lynching party. I believe that view accurately describes what they attempted to do to Estrada.
Thank God a good man was spared this crap FOR ONCE!
Now let's see them get the rest of the good guys through.
As to the rats: Buck up! Payback's a B*TCH girls...
Memo to Hispanics: Chuck Schumer thinks you are STUPID and can't make it without being a Democrat. Actually the whole Democrat ELITE thinks your stupid.
Freedom, Wealth, and Peace,
Francis W. Porretto
Visit The Palace Of Reason:
http://palaceofreason.com
from News and Observer"All Republicans voted for Estrada, and all Democrats, including John Edwards of North Carolina, who voted by proxy, opposed the nomination."
And I will state the obvious, let's remember to mention this to our Latino friends.
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