Miguel Estrada Withdraws Name from Consideration

By Dave Andrusko

Miguel Estrada, the first Hispanic to be nominated to serve on the prestigious U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, has withdrawn his name from consideration. Estrada's supporters in the Senate were unable to end an six-month-long filibuster engineered by pro-abortion Senate Democrats.

"Miguel Estrada's nomination was blocked for one reason and one reason only," said David N. O'Steen, Ph.D., NRLC executive director. "He refused to commit to supporting abortion."

O'Steen added, "Nothing else mattered. Not that the ABA rated him 'well qualified'; not that he had served in both the first Bush Administration and the Clinton Administration; and not that he had argued 15 cases before the Supreme Court."

President Bush, who strongly supported his nominee, charged that "Mr. Estrada received disgraceful treatment at the hands of 45 United States Senators during the more than two years his nomination was pending. Despite his superb qualifications and the wide bipartisan support for his nomination, these Democrat Senators repeatedly blocked an up-or-down vote that would have led to Mr. Estrada's confirmation."

The President added, "The treatment of this fine man is an unfortunate chapter in the Senate's history."

The Washington Post wrote that Estrada was "blocked by unrelenting opposition from Senate Democrats," an understatement if ever there was one. Estrada was first nominated to the appeals court in 2001.

It took 16 months just to get a hearing from the Senate Judiciary Committee, which approved the nomination over stubborn opposition from nine pro-abortion committee Democrats. However, a vote in the full Senate was blocked by a Democratic filibuster which required 60 votes to end. (This is called invoking "cloture.")

Raimundo Rojas, NRLC's Hispanic outreach coordinator, was both sad and furious by the outcome.

"Hispanics across the country were saddened as Miguel Estrada withdrew his name from consideration to be a judge on the D.C. Court of Appeals - - and who can blame him?" he told NRL News.

"Miguel Estrada was bullied and brutally campaigned against for over two years by Senate Democrats because he would not commit to support abortion," Rojas said. "It is a travesty that Miguel Estrada, a Honduran who graduated from Columbia University and Harvard Law School, has been prevented from serving on the U.S. Court of Appeals because of the Democratic Party's blind loyalty to pro-abortion groups."

Hispanics across the country will be shocked and alarmed at the disregard Democratic senators have for Hispanic interests, Rojas said.

"Democrats like to claim they are responsive to Hispanics, but their treatment of Miguel Estrada only proves they don't care enough to put even one Hispanic on the U.S. Court of Appeals," said Rojas.

Just how passionate the debate over Estrada's nomination had become was evident in the comments that came within hours after he withdrew. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay told the Washington Times, "The Democrats' character assassination of Miguel Estrada was a political hate crime. We have witnessed the Democrats at their ugliest." DeLay told the Post, "The saga of Miguel Estrada is a tale of rank and unbridled Democratic partisanship, and the American people, sadly, are the losers."

Only one Democrat spoke up for Estrada, retiring Georgia Senator Zell Miller, who told the Times, "Miguel Estrada has become the latest victim of Washington's partisan, obstructionist politics." Added Miller, "This hardworking, highly qualified immigrant came to this country to pursue the American dream. For the past 28 months, he has been caught in an American nightmare."

[Miller was one of only four Democrats to vote to invoke cloture. He was joined by Ben Nelson (Neb.), John Breaux (La.), and Bill Nelson (Fl.)]

According to many of Estrada's supporters, pro-abortion Senate Democrats feared that Estrada would eventually be nominated to the Supreme Court and were petrified at the thought of drawing the ire of NARAL's Kate Michelman, who announced in January that she expected Senate Democrats to filibuster candidates NARAL found unacceptable.

Democrats are already filibustering two other appeals court nominees - - Alabama Attorney General William Pryor Jr. and Texas Supreme Court Justice Priscilla R. Owen - - "and are considering filibusters against several others, including California jurist Carolyn Kuhl," according to the Post.

There was no immediate word from the White House whom it would submit in place of Estrada. Three of the current members of the Supreme Court first served on U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, generally conceded to be second only to the Supreme Court in importance.