Congressional group turns on judicial candidate

09/27/2002

By RUBEN NAVARRETTE / The Dallas Morning News

The Congressional Hispanic Caucus has come up with an odd way to mark Hispanic Heritage Month: hoist up an overachieving Hispanic "Golden Boy" and turn him into a piñata.

Made up of Hispanic members of Congress, the 18-member caucus bills itself as '"a voice for the Hispanic community." The voice has spoken of the importance of ensuring a diverse judiciary, of expanding opportunities for Hispanic nominees and of treating said nominees with fairness and respect. The caucus has even launched a "Hispanic Judiciary Initiative" to evaluate and recommend Hispanic judicial nominees. In justifying the initiative, the group's Web site extols the benefits derived from "a diversity of thought and action."

Yeah. This week, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus – whose members are all Democrats – ran away from its own rhetoric by publicly opposing the nomination of Miguel Estrada to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The caucus did so with blatant prejudice, offering no specific evidence of Mr. Estrada's unfitness to serve. Worse, it took its stand before Mr. Estrada's confirmation hearing began on Thursday and before he had the chance to publicly utter a single syllable explaining his judicial philosophy.

How's that for treating a nominee with fairness and respect?

Why the rush to judgment? For one thing, coming out in opposition early gives Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee – all of whom are Anglo – cover to launch a partisan assault on Mr. Estrada and to do so without appearing racist or dismissive of his accomplishments.

And what accomplishments. As far as I am concerned, Miguel Estrada settles the argument over affirmative action. He torpedoes the absurd notion that minorities who overcome stiff competition are not qualified to assume coveted positions. The truth is they have to be twice as good as everybody else.

Mr. Estrada is awfully good. An American success story, he immigrated to the United States from Honduras at 17, speaking no English. He graduated with honors from Columbia University and Harvard Law School, where he was an editor of the Harvard Law Review. He worked hard enough to earn a coveted spot as a law clerk for a Supreme Court justice and serve as an assistant solicitor general in both the Bush Sr. and Clinton administrations. Mr. Estrada has argued more than a dozen cases before the Supreme Court, and he has won most of them.

All that has brought him to the doorstep of making history. If Mr. Estrada is confirmed, he'll become the first Hispanic to sit on the DC circuit court. That is no small thing. The DC circuit is considered the second most important court in the land and a farm club for the first – the Supreme Court. From that perch, Mr. Estrada will be in a good position to get the nod should President Bush honor his pledge to appoint a Hispanic to the Supreme Court.

For a community that works hard and plays by the rules so that their children have the chance to succeed, the likes of Miguel Estrada will make the chests of Hispanic fathers swell up with pride and the eyes of Hispanic mothers swell up with tears.

That can't be said for most members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, a group that has earned a reputation for being detached from the everyday concerns of Hispanics and dispassionate in its defense of Hispanic causes. Ironically, that is the same accusation that the caucus leadership has now leveled at Mr. Estrada, expressing a preference for candidates who have "demonstrated a commitment to protecting the rights of Latinos."

Cool. Let's take a look at how the Hispanic Caucus goes about protecting the rights of Latinos. How about the right of Latino political candidates to compete on a level playing field with regard to fund raising? The caucus used to oppose campaign finance reform, saying it hurt Latino candidates. Then it softened that position, presumably in response to pressure from the Democratic leadership, which supports reform. How about the right of Latino candidates to run for office in the first place? The caucus undermined that when the Democratic leadership convinced it to agree to a Faustian bargain: Caucus members promised that they would not support Latino renegades who ran against Anglo Democratic incumbents in exchange for possible committee assignments if Democrats regained control of the House.

There is no direct evidence of a quid pro quo between the Hispanic Caucus and the Democratic leadership on the Estrada nomination. But the group's track record makes it highly unlikely that one won't turn up.

Democrats used to talk about empowering the Hispanic community. Give me a break. They won't even empower the community's leaders to think for themselves.

Ruben Navarrette is an editorial writer and columnist for The Dallas Morning News.