Democrats are hypocrites on minority judicial appointments

The hypocrisy of Obama and the Democratic Party on minority judicial appointments is astounding. This hypocrisy is being covered up and supported by the mainstream media. The MSM, Democrats and many pundits are cautioning Republicans and conservatives to be careful and not mount to strong an opposition to Hispanic SCOTUS nominee Sonia Sotomayor. They say Republicans will face a Hispanic voter backlash. Democrats can hardly keep from snickering over the quandary they think Republicans are faced with. When the Democrats in the Senate stonewalled Miguel Estrada, one of President Bush's first judicial nominees, there was no talk of a Hispanic backlash. Here is what happened when Republicans nominated an "inspirational" Hispanic candidate to the Circuit Court. From GOPUSA:

The self-proclaimed "Party of the people," has shown its true colors. The Party which claims, time and time again, to champion the causes of women, minorities, and the "oppressed" has revealed its true agenda. For the Democrats, the nomination of Miguel Estrada proves that it's not enough to be a minority. It's not enough to overcome adversity and triumph through education and hard work. For the Democrats, you must be the "right kind" of minority to garner their support.

Miguel A. Estrada was born in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, and immigrated to the United States with his family as a teenager. He attended Columbia College in New York and graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa in 1983. Estrada received his law degree from Harvard Law School in 1986 and was an editor of the Harvard Law Review.

With these sterling academic credentials in hand, Estrada served as a law clerk for U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Amalya Kearse of the Second Circuit. Estrada then clerked for Justice Anthony Kennedy of the U.S. Supreme Court. From 1990 until 1992, Miguel 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. During the Clinton administration, he joined the United States Department of Justice as an Assistant to the Solicitor General. Estrada is currently a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP.

On May 9, 2001, President Bush nominated Miguel Estrada to be U.S. Circuit Judge for the District of Columbia Circuit. This court is widely believed to be the most influential circuit court and a stepping stone to the U.S. Supreme Court. Under the control of the Democrats, the Senate Judiciary Committee let the Estrada nomination languish for more than a year and a half. Only after the Republicans took control of the Senate following the 2002 elections and the Judiciary Committee fell under the chairmanship of Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), did Estrada get his day. Estrada's nomination was passed out of the committee by a straight party line vote.

Now, Senate Democrats are moving to filibuster the Estrada nomination and set a dangerous precedent in the Senate. Never before has a circuit court nominee been filibustered. By proceeding with this course of action, the Democrats would effectively change the rules to require a super-majority of 60 votes for confirmation rather than a simple majority of 51 votes. Three Senate Democrats have already said they will vote for Estrada: John B. Breaux of Louisiana, Ben Nelson of Nebraska, and Zell Miller of Georgia.

Democrats managed to stonewall this extremely qualified candidate until he finally withdrew. The reason they blocked this nomination was they didn't want the Republicans to have a Hispanic candidate primed for any Supreme Court opening that might have occurred. The liberal media never made a big issue of this hypocritical political move. There wasn't any talk of a Hispanic backlash against the Democrats.