Miguel Estrada: Victim of Racial Profiling

The Democrats are like NASDAQ, they keep hitting new lows.  They may have succeeded in winning the battle to keep Estrada off the bench but they will lose the war, big time.  No longer can Democrats claim to be champions of minorities.  The Estrada case proves they are champions of only liberal minorities.  

Two months ago Tom Daschle and the Democrats were talking about Trent Lott and the Republicans terrible record on race issues.  How does that square with their disgraceful treatment of Miguel Estrada?

Estrada is President Bush's nominee to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, the most important federal circuit in the country.  He would be the first Hispanic to be selected to this court.

Who is Miguel Estrada?  "Estrada came to America from Honduras as a teenager. Within just 15 years, he had graduated with honors from Columbia College and with high honors from Harvard Law School, clerked for U.S. Circuit Judge Amalya Kearse (a Carter appointee) and Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, and had been appointed assistant U.S. attorney." (Thomas Jipping, WorldNetDaily).

What's his professional background?

• Estrada has argued 15 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court.  He won two-thirds of those cases.
• From 1992 to 1997, Estrada served as Assistant to the Solicitor General of the United States.
• Estrada graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School, where he was editor of the Harvard Law Review.
• Estrada graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Columbia College, New York.
• Estrada served as a clerk to Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy.
• Estrada is a partner with Gibson, Dunn, & Crutcher LLP, where he is a member of the firm's Appellate and Constitutional Law Practice Group and the Business Crimes and Investigations Practice Group.
• Estrada served as Assistant U.S. Attorney and Deputy Chief of the Appellate Section for the U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of New York.  Estrada tried 10 cases as a prosecutor and argued 7 cases before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

Despite all this, NY Democrat Senator Chuck Schumer has the gall to say "No judicial nominee that I'm aware of, for such a high court, has ever had so little of a record." Actually, he is aware of at least two nominees to a yet higher court -- Gov. Warren and Sen. Hugo Black -- who had no record comparable to Estrada's 15 briefs and oral arguments (10 of them victorious) in cases he argued before the Supreme Court. (Bob Thomas, Daily Journal)

The American Bar Association Gave Estrada It's Highest Rating  The American Bar Association (ABA) has given Miguel Estrada a unanimous "Well Qualified" rating, the highest possible rating.  The ABA bases its ratings on "integrity, professional competence and judicial temperament."  Democrats have called the ABA rating the "gold standard." 

While he worked at the Clinton Justice Department, Estrada filed an amicus brief on behalf of the government on the same side of the case as the National Organization of Women.  The Supreme Court unanimously agreed with Estrada in NOW v. Scheidler that the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) could be applied to abortion protestors.  (Jonathan Groner, "When Labels Don't Fit," Legal Times, June 25, 2001)

Despite this the disgraceful Tom Daschle says, "I have concluded that Mr. Estrada holds positions that are extreme in their nature ... that could be defined as ultra far-right."

How does this statement by Daschle wash with the comments from former Clinton administration appointees who have worked with Miguel Estrada?

Seth P. Waxman, Solicitor General under President Clinton, said Estrada is, "exceptionally well-qualified appellate advocates." 

Randolph Moss, President Clinton's former Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Legal Counsel wrote, "Although I am [sic] Democrat and Miguel and I do not see eye-to-eye on every  issue, I hold Miguel in the highest regard and I urge the Committee to give favorable consideration to his nomination . . . .  Miguel is a brilliant, dedicated, and principled lawyer." 

Vice President Gore's former Chief of Staff, Ronald Klain, in a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee, wrote the "challenges [Estrada] has overcome in his life have made him genuinely compassionate, genuinely concerned for others, and genuinely devoted to helping those in need . . . ." 

Robert S. Litt, Clinton Justice Department Associate Deputy Attorney General, said, "Miguel has an absolutely brilliant mind.  He is a superb analytical lawyer and he's an outstanding oral advocate." 

What the Democrats have done to Miguel Estrada is a disgrace and it will cost them with Hispanic voters in 2004.