Conversation with Daschle - Estrada and Beyond
- Tom, thanks so much for your hard work on the Estrada nomination. You have done a terrific job rallying the caucus. Because of you, I think we will be successful.
- I know this is hard work, and it's difficult getting the caucus to stick together around the issue of judicial nominations. Accordingly, I hope we can develop a long-term strategy that acknowledges the importance of the issue and the problems associated witha filibuster strategy.
- Given Bush's plan to pack the courts, there are many bad nominations coming down the track. I know we can't fight all of them, but we should have a short list of consensus nominees we agree to filibuster.
- I'm concerned that after this fight, several in our caucus won't be willing to filibuster again, and Bush will fill the courts with conservatives. If we develop a long-term strategy, we can let members vote for many nominees because we've all agreed that from time to time, we have to stick together. What do you think?
Talking Points on Estrada for Caucus
- We must filibuster Miguel Estrada's nomination. He is clearly an intelligent lawyer, but being a judge requires more. He must demonstrate his commitment to core constitutional values, and he has to prove that he has the ability to be fair and impartial. By design, we know very little about Mr. Estrada, but the burden is on him to prove to us that he is fit for a life-time appointment. He simply hasn't done that.
- He has serious temperament problems. He's been criticized by his direct supervisor in the Solicitor General's Officce as too ideological to be a judge. Members of the Hispanic Caucus and other Latino leaders have described him as not being "even-tempered" and as having a "short fuse".
- As Pat and Chuck have described, Estrada has virtually no paper trail, and he has refused to answer the most basic questions about his views. Over and over again, the Justice Department refuses to provide us with the documents from Estrada's time in government practice. That's simply unacceptable.
I've been here for 40 years and I've worked with Republican and Democratic Administrations in the confirmation process. This Administration is the worst. They are applying a litmus test at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and then they dare us to prevent them from packing the courts of appeals with ideologues. As [blacked out] and [blacked out] can attest, any attempt to work with them is refused.
- If we allow them to place a stealth, right-wing zealot on this court, we have only ourselves to blame. Although a few Hispanic groups support Estrada, we have the support of many of the largest, oldest Hispanic organizations including dozens of Hispanic labor leaders across the country, MALDEF, the Puerto Rican Legal Defense Fund, and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
- These groups are taking their message and their concerns about Estrada to mainstream and to Spanish-language press. The Republican claim that we are anti-Hispanic won't stick. We have too much support, and their record is hostile to the interests of that community.
- The D.C. Circuit is far too important to appoint someone about whom we have so many questions. Key labor, civil rights, environmental, and administrative law cases are decided there, and we know it is a "feeder" circuit for the Supreme Court. The White House is almost telling us that they plan to nominate him to the Supreme Court. We can't repeat the mistake we made with Clarence Thomas.
Interesting...rank and file Dim Senators are told by the "caucus" how they are allowed to vote.