So much is being said about Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor. There’s actually a group of Latino law students at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio that’s holding a “watch party” for the confirmation hearings going on in the Senate for Sotomayor. The sound bytes I’ve heard from some students there go something like this:
“It’s a moment of pride for our community”
“She’s so well-qualified. It’s a very exciting time. History is being made.”
Can I understand why they feel that way? Sure! Someone who has a similar background is making it to the pinnacle of the line of work she’s chosen. For the first time, there will be a Latino/Hispanic on the Supreme Court. Of course, what you don’t hear much about is how we probably would have had someone of that heritage on the court before now, had politics and ideology not stood in the way.
Then-president George W. Bush nominated a very well-qualified man to the Washington, D.C. Circuit Court. You know, the George W. Bush who appointed the first American of African decent to the post of Secretary of State with Gen. Colin Powell. Yes, the same G.W. Bush who appointed the first American of Latino/Hispanic decent to the office of the Attorney General of the United States with Alberto Gonzales. Indeed, the same G.W. Bush who appointed the first female of African American decent to the post of Secretary of State with Condoleezza Rice. Remember him and all of them? Remember how the liberals responded then? There were very little kudos for the president. Instead, there was political infighting. This is NOT about diversity this is about ideology.
Back to Estrada; he was nominated by then-president Bush and seemed to be a great choice. He came highly praised and rated by judicial experts and with his Latino family line and amazing, intriguing story of achieving the American dream through amazing adversity (sound familiar?) he was a shoo-in for whom both sides of the aisle could vote. He came to America at 17 speaking very little English with his mother from Honduras. This is NOT about diversity this is about ideology.
We could be a proud country that we’ve confirmed a Latino to a very high court.. more importantly, we would be confirming a very good jurist. The thought process at the time was that Estrada, after serving a period of time on the Circuit Court bench, would be an easy choice for nomination to the Supreme Court of the United States. Yes, he would have been the first such justice of Latino heritage. He never got that chance. Instead of showing pride for morediversity from the president, democrats in the Senate (who were in the minority) filibustered the nomination. They did NOT allow for a vote on this very well-qualified legal nomination. “Why?” you might ask? This quote from an email written to Senator Dick Durbin answers that question:
“They also identified Miguel Estrada (D.C. Circuit) as especially dangerous, because he has a minimal paper trail, he is Latino, and the White House seems to be grooming him for a Supreme Court nomination. They want to hold Estrada off as long as possible.”
This is NOT about diversity this is about ideology. This email can be seen on Karl Rove’s web site. This is obviously an email to assist in planning how to stop the nomination of this very wise, experienced Latino nominee. And stop him they did.
Had the senators not filibustered the nomination of Estrada, one can make the logical assumption that he would have been the one nominated to the highest court instead of Roberts, or Alito. It’s a good assumption that, as he did with Powell and Rice, G.W. Bush would have again made a great choice — and one of which all Americans could have been proud. He was not allowed to do that.. because, you guessed it; This is NOT about diversity this is about ideology.
By the way, president Obama — then junior senator from Illinois — helped block judicial nominees of then-president Bush of all races and genders and voted against both Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito. This is NOT about diversity this is about ideology.