Wow!! Hatch live [C-span] on senate floor reading Washington Post article

nice tie

Happy days are here again Welcome back. : )

Leahy is giving up the floor---he says.

Hatch is back. Talking about letter from past Hispanic bar association presidents which opposes Estrada. Says the Hispanic Bar association itself currently supports Estrada.

Disgraceful letter, Hatch says. False, distorted.

Hatch lighting it up again.

OUCH!!!!! Burn Orrin Burn!

Hatch up now, hammering Leahy and the Hispanic Bar Association Past President's letters.

Hatch kicking ass.

Be Seeing You,

Chris

He did? (Vietnam Vets here to pick up some stuff -- I had some "time" on my hands lately, so I cleaned out the attic! :-)

From NRSC website:

Stalemate over Estrada previews 'coming attractions'

2/24/03 Source: Baltimore Sun
By: Julie Hirschfeld Davis
This article has been excerpted

WASHINGTON - The Senate is locked in a stalemate over one of President Bush's judicial nominees, and the debate is taking on the tenor and intensity of a Supreme Court confirmation battle.

That's no coincidence. The nomination of Miguel Estrada to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is shaping up as a test of both parties' wills as they prepare - perhaps this year - to debate a potential vacancy on the Supreme Court.

What began as a low-profile debate over Estrada, a 41-year- old Honduran immigrant and darling of conservatives, has escalated into a battle over the future of the federal courts.

Republicans are determined to show they will stand behind Bush's conservative nominees. Democrats are just as intent on proving that they won't accept nominees whose views they consider outside the mainstream.

"It is very much a preview of coming attractions," said Sheldon Goldman, a political science professor at the University of Massachusetts and an authority on the judiciary. "Democrats are drawing a line in the sand."

Sen. Arlen Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican and key member of the Judiciary Committee, called the debate "a prelude to the nomination of the next justice of the Supreme Court."

Estrada would be the first Latino on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, which is widely regarded as the second most important court after the Supreme Court and has often been a steppingstone to the high court. The Supreme Court has never had a Hispanic justice.

The nominee's personal story is a compelling one: Estrada immigrated as a teen-ager who spoke little English. Within a few years, he had graduated with honors from Columbia University and Harvard Law School. He went on to clerk at the Supreme Court, was a top Justice Department lawyer under Presidents George Bush and Bill Clinton, and is now a partner in a Washington law firm.

Last month, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved Estrada's nomination on a strict party-line vote. With the matter stalled on the Senate floor, the jousting has become heated. Both sides have launched campaigns to sway public opinion.

'Give the man a vote'

Bush took the unusual step Saturday of devoting his weekly radio address to Estrada's nomination. Praising his qualifications and his personal background, the president called the delay in confirming Estrada a "disgrace" and implored Democrats to "give the man a vote."

"Their tactics are unfair to the good man I have nominated," Bush said of Democrats, "and unfaithful to the Senate's own obligations."

Bush and his congressional allies argue that Estrada deserves, at the least, the chance for a Senate vote.

Estrada wrote when he was assistant to the solicitor general. Doing so, officials argue, could chill government lawyers' willingness to give candid advice.

Republicans have the 51 votes they would need to confirm Estrada. But they lack the 60 votes required to overcome Democrats' procedural hurdles.

Democrats say they have 44 opponents to block a confirmation vote - three more than they would need. (Three Democrats - John B. Breaux of Louisiana, Zell Miller of Georgia and Ben Nelson of Nebraska - say they would not block a vote.)

High-stakes floor fight

When they return from a congressional break this evening, the senators are expected to engage in a drawn-out floor fight over the nomination. The stakes, both sides say, are high.

The Supreme Court has not had a vacancy for nine years - the longest such interval since the early 19th century. At least one of the justices is thought likely to retire before Bush's term ends in 2004, giving the president a chance to appoint a conservative to a lifetime term.

So Estrada, who not only has a dynamic personal story but also widely acclaimed legal talent, is regarded as a potential Supreme Court pick.

Democrats "are absolutely terrified of a conservative Hispanic being elevated to the Supreme Court," said C. Boyden Gray, who was White House counsel to the president's father and is a leading Republican fund-raiser. "Both parties are contending for the growing Hispanic-American vote, and there's some concern that whichever party gets the first pick hits a political home run."

In addition, Senate leaders are eager to show they have the muscle to back Bush's judicial nominees and overcome any filibuster.

'This is a precursor'

"It has everything to do with that," a top Republican Senate leadership aide said. "This is a precursor" to a Supreme Court fight.

Democrats and liberal activists say they are up against a president who is trying to pack the federal courts with ideologues who will push his conservative agenda for years to come.

"What happens over the next year or two could well determine what will be the law of the land for the next 20 or 30 years," said Ralph G. Neas, president of People for the American Way, a liberal advocacy group.

Gray's Committee for Justice, a group of conservative lawyers and Republicans who promote the president's judicial nominees, has run TV ads in the District of Columbia, Indiana and North Carolina, asking viewers to urge their senators to back Estrada. It plans ads in about a dozen other TV markets.

The Latino Coalition, which also backs Estrada, is running radio ads here and in Louisiana. Many major Hispanic groups, including the League of United Latin American Citizens and the Latino Coalition, support Estrada's nomination. A few such groups oppose him, including the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund and the all-Democratic Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

Estrada's opponents - including a coalition of minority advocacy groups, organized labor, environmentalists and abortion rights groups - are expected to run ads in coming days.

Liberal groups aim to stiffen the resolve of Democratic leaders, who must hold their troops in line to derail the Estrada nomination and signal their willingness to use such tactics against future Bush nominees.

"If senators fail to use the filibuster in this case, they will set a dangerous precedent for allowing the Bush administration and the Republican leadership to ramrod lower-court and Supreme Court nominees," Neas said.

...

He's is HOT. Called them jerks. LOL

Now I have to come up with a new tag line......lol

Thanks for starting the thread. I didn't know it had started!

Leahy's arguing that the D.C. Circuit is more important than the Supreme Court because it decides many more cases. That argument would apply to all U.S. circuit courts of appeals.

Isn't this laughable? Libs would not approve of him as USSC justice either.

"Has anybody seen any polling numbers"

None, zip, nada! Fred Barnes brought this up on Fox
yesterday but gave no reason.

Senator Hatch -- Argued 15 cases before the SCOTUS and won 10! Hatch called Leahy a liar with this one!

Hatch on Fire! LEAHY LIED!!!!!

Howlin!!!! So good to have you back :-)

Thank you for the ping - here we go again!!!

I think calling a senator a liar is against the rules of decorum of the Senate. What, by the way, was Leahy's lie? I didn't catch that.

Time for a note of "God Speed" to our local Coast Guard Station. I'm not sure folks appreciate the many talents of these dedicated men and women.

Hatch saying he's having a difficult time not swearing!! LOL!!

Saying that most candidates won't have both judicial and teaching experience. Double standard for Hispanics practically guarantees very few Hispanics will be appointed.

Welcome back!

Pointed out the partisan liberal attempts. Saying those words many times

Howdy, stranger. Welcome back !!

Thanks for the ping...