THE DEMOCRATS VS. HISPANICS:

GOP Pushes Estrada Past Democrats, 10-9: After nearly two years, panel OKs appellate court nominee (Tom Brune, January 31, 2003, Newsday)

Over Democrats' objections, Republicans on the Judiciary Committee yesterday quickly sent to the full Senate the long-delayed judicial nomination of Miguel Estrada, a conservative Hispanic attorney considered a potential Supreme Court pick.

In a 10-9 party-line vote that followed a contentious exchange among senators, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved Estrada's nomination to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. [...]

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), the committee chairman, accused liberal activists of a smear campaign against Estrada, who came to the United States from Honduras when he was 16, because of his ethnicity and politics.

"One new obstacle Hispanics face today is the attempt by some Washington political operatives to smear anyone who could be a positive role model for Hispanics and who might be a constitutionalist, rather than a liberal judicial activist, or who might even be conservative or Republican," Hatch said.

No honest observer will deny that had he an identical record and philosophy and WASP heritage Mr. Estrada would have sailed through. What Democrats fear is that he now becomes a slam dunk Supreme Court nominee, who they'd be forced to approve even in the final days of the second Bush term, when they'd normally be able to stop any nomination. This doesn't make them anti-Hispanic per se, but it does put them in the position of denying job promotions to Hispanics (and blacks) because of their ethnicity. Posted by Orrin Judd at January 31, 2003 3:42 PM