Posted on 02/12/2003 2:12:03 AM PST by kattracks
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Senate Democrats say they will filibuster Washington lawyer Miguel Estrada's confirmation to the federal appeals bench because he stonewalled them last year when they asked him about his judicial philosophy.
President Bush on Tuesday called the Democratic plan to block his most-favored judicial nominee "shameful politics," as the Republican and Democratic parties started a high-stakes tug-of-war over the man who could be the first Hispanic on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.
Estrada is a member of the law firm that represented Bush in his successful Supreme Court fight for the presidency. He came to the United States from Honduras as a teenager and graduated from Harvard Law School in 1986. He has practiced constitutional law and argued 15 cases before the Supreme Court.
But Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota accused Estrada of refusing to explain what his judicial philosophy would be if he became a federal judge. The D.C. circuit, which is evenly split between judges appointed by Republican and Democratic presidents, has been a steppingstone to the U.S. Supreme Court.
"Every nominee who comes before the Senate has the obligation to be forthcoming with information about his position, with information about his record," said Daschle. "Until he does, we don't believe that it is in the Senate's best interest to allow this confirmation to go forward."
Senate parliamentary rules allow the minority to use a filibuster to effectively reject a measure or nominee with just 41 votes. The Senate has 51 Republicans, 48 Democrats and one independent.
"We have enough votes to sustain our position," Daschle said.
Bush said Estrada's nomination should not be held up any longer. The Senate has already debated his qualifications for more than a week.
"Miguel Estrada is highly qualified, extremely intelligent," the president said. "He has the votes necessary to be confirmed. Yet a handful of Democrats in the Senate are playing politics with his nomination, and it's shameful politics."
Republicans promised to keep senators in Washington, if necessary, into a 10-day vacation scheduled to begin Saturday if Democrats don't allow a final vote.
"If they want to stay through the weekend, we'll stay through the weekend," said Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn.
Since Estrada's nomination in May 2001, Republicans have accused Democrats of treating him unfairly because he is a conservative Hispanic.
During Estrada's five-hour confirmation hearing last year, Democrats repeatedly contended that he lacked judicial experience. Estrada's refusal to answer questions about specific cases, including those on abortion rights, gave them little to review, Democrats complained.
Senate Judiciary Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said Estrada answered every question the Democrats had. "The truth is he didn't answer questions in a way that could be used against him," he said.
The Justice Department's solicitor general's office, where Estrada used to work, refused to release copies of internal memos and opinions he produced when he worked there. All the living solicitors general for presidents in both parties agreed with that position in a letter last June.
Daschle said Democrats will not allow a vote on the nomination until the White House makes Estrada answer their questions and releases the memos.
"We can expect every single nominee to come forward with the same stonewalling attitude, with the same approach that they don't have to provide us information," Daschle said. "Well, we're not going to do that."
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On the Net:
Justice Department's Estrada biography: http://www.usdoj.gov/olp/estrada.htm
Obstruct for the sake of your supporters that would vote for your party anyway (i.e. abortion supporters, anti-gun, etc.) and alienate a huge population of voters, Hispanics, that could be easily turned from voting Democratic to Republican by this move.
This is the key to Democrat angst. They just can't get over it. They're willing to go to the mat over a circuit judge! I cannot imagine what they'll do with a nomination to the Supremes.
Nelson of Nebraska and Breaux have already announced they won't back a filibuster. I would also assume Miller won't either. That leaves 46 including Jumpin' Jim. Let's see - if I was a Rat Senator with a large Hispanic population. Graham & Nelson of Florida. I'll go out on a limb and mention Thelma & Louise in California. Lincoln in Arkansas is looking at reelection. Bacchus in Montana. Bingaman in New Mexico might not want to touch this one. I'd say even old Hollings might take a pass at this.
I caught some of this on C-SPAN2. Schumer has given up on reelection. Rudy runs against him, he's gone. Reid has too. Nevada has to have a rather large Hispanic population. It's mind boggling what the rats are doing.
Well, better bring along a case of Sucrets, because you'll be doing a lot of talking, jackasses. I can't wait to show a nation of voters who are worried to death about war and the economy that their Democratic "leaders" are completely blocking the Senate from doing any business because they can't stand the idea of letting the president appoint just one Hispanic judge. Go ahead, make my millennium!
So what's Daschle's point?
Senator Nelson:
As a concerned Florida resident and patriotic American, I fail to understand the position the Senate Democrats have taken on the nomination of Judge Estrada. Are you and the rest of the Democrats so consumed with partisan politics that you can't see the folly in this activity?
Our country is in danger of losing our very way of life at the hands of foreign terrorists while the Democrats in the Senate play games with judicial nominees. Where is your sense of duty? What happened to your oath to protect this country and its citizens?
Stop wasting time and our hard earned tax money on this nonsense and pay attention to securing our country. What difference will it make who our judges are if Islamic terrorists take over our country?
I keep seeing this stated, and I hope you're right about it. I had a Hispanic employee a few years ago who was rabidly democrat, believed in La Raza, saw nothing wrong with huge welfare programs, and was sure that the Southwest would be returned to Mexico--not exactly Republican initiatives. I realize she was a sample size of one, but I'm sure she is not alone.
And the way to get the RATs to pay a price for filibustering is to give such recess appointments to extreme right-wing ideologues who would never be confirmed by the full Senate.
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