Sotomayor and Estrada – A Tale of Two Hispanics

And interesting article from the New Majority on the differences between George W. Bush’s nomination of Estrada in 2001 and Barack H. Obama’s nomination of Sotomayor in 2009:

Today’s announcement by President Obama of the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court brought a great deal of excitement to the Hispanic community. Discounting Justice Cardozo (of Portugese ancestry), Sotomayor will be the first Hispanic justice on the court. Yet, the excitement is understandable — few can discount the pride groups may feel at having one of their own ascend to the highest court in the land. The excitement over Sotomayor is no different than the enthusiasm Italian-Americans felt over the nomination of Justice Scalia or that African-Americans felt over the nomination of Justice Marshall. But amidst the hoopla, now is a good time to remember another lawyer who, had he been held merely to the same standards of Sotomayor, may well have been the first Hispanic justice: Miguel Estrada.

In 2001, President George W. Bush nominated Estrada to the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Yet Estrada’s nomination unleashed a furious Democratic opposition. A staffer to Sen. Dick Durban, who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee, noted that liberal interest groups saw Estrada as “dangerous”, because he was “Latino and the White House seems to be grooming him for a Supreme Court appointment.” The memo stressed that these groups wanted to “hold Estrada off as long as possible.” 

For the rest of the article, click here.

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