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Support for Miguel Estrada Across the Country
Editorial boards and writers across the nation continue to voice their opposition to the Estrada filibuster in articles over this holiday weekend. Voters in New York, Augusta, Sarasota, Grand Forks, Orlando, Providence, New Haven, Baton Rouge, Twin Falls, Atlanta, Spartenburg, Redding, the Washington, DC area, and balmy Anchorage were all reading editorials and commentaries urging the Senate to give Mr. Estrada an up-or-down vote. In addition, Gov. George Pataki and HUD Secretary Mel Martinez published columns in support of the nomination.
A sampling of those articles follows:

Washington Post --- Editorial ---"Just Vote" -- 2/18/03
 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A22998-2003Feb17.html
"If Mr. Estrada cannot get a vote, there will be no reason for Republicans to allow the next David S. Tatel -- a distinguished liberal member of the court -- to get one when a Democrat someday again picks judges."

Spartenburg Herald Journal -- Editorial -- "Filibuster over Estrada is unreasonable, partisan obstructionism" -- 2/14/03
 http://www.goupstate.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?Site=SJ&Date=20030214&Category=NEWS&ArtNo=302140360&Ref=AR&Profile=1022
"By filibustering, Democratic senators show their disrespect for their colleagues, for the democratic process and for the Constitution. They filibuster because they know that if they allow the Senate to vote, they will lose. They do not care that the Senate needs to fulfill its constitutional duty by voting on the president's nominees. They do not care that they are preventing the Senate from getting any other work done. They insist that their minority should rule."

Redding Record Searchlight (California) --- Editorial --- "Senate liberals should not fear vote for judge" -- 2/15/03
 http://www.redding.com/news/editorial/past/20030215edt015.shtml
"It's irresponsible and an outrage, this hysteria being acted out by the Democrats to keep Estrada from serving on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. But the Democrats do have their excuses, each more petty and pathetic than the next. ... Keeping others from voting their consciences on this particular matter is more than slightly reprehensible."

Augusta Chronicle --- Editorial -- "Support Estrada" -- 2/16/03
 http://augustachronicle.com/stories/021703/opi_089-6410.shtml
"The effort to stop this good man - a Washington lawyer who came from Honduras to the United States as a teenager and graduated from Harvard Law School - besmirches the confirmation process."

Providence Journal-Bulletin -- Editorial -- "Democrats' Opposition to Estrada is Outrageous" -- 2/14/03
 http://www.projo.com/opinion/editorials/content/projo_20030214_14edmig.c1c0e.html (reg. req'd)
"The point about Miguel Estrada is not that he may or may not harbor conservative judicial opinions. The point is that he is an inspiring American success story, a brilliant scholar, a distinguished public servant and an outstanding lawyer. For Senate Democrats to talk down his nomination is not just embarrassing, but outrageous."

The Advocate (Baton Rouge, LA) --- Editorial --- "Landrieu gives Bush payback" -- 2/16/03
 http://www.theadvocate.com/stories/021603/opi_edi001.shtml
"It's a mess, but the realities are that Estrada -- unstealth conservative that he is -- is transparently qualified for the judiciary and has earned at least some bipartisan support in a highly politicized environment. That ought to lead Landrieu and other Democrats to follow the lead of U.S. Sen. John Breaux of Louisiana and agree to bring Estrada's name to a vote of the full Senate. Breaux called it the wrong fight at the wrong time for Democrats. We agree."

Atlanta Journal-Constitution -- Editorial page associate editor Jim Wooton -- "Critics fail to make case vs. Estrada" -- 2/16/03
 http://www.accessatlanta.com/ajc/epaper/editions/today/opinion_e3f4c29b3397312f00ca.html
"'Their argument really has no substance to it,' [Senator Saxby Chambliss] said Friday. 'There's nothing in my mind that in any way indicates that he would be radical on the bench. He's just a conservative and they can't stand it. It's driving them crazy. But they've picked the wrong guy' for the filibuster."

Grand Forks Herald -- Editorial -- "Stop the Filibuster" -- 2/15/03
 http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforksherald/news/opinion/5187444.htm
"Go ahead, Senate Democrats: Argue against the nomination. Tell voters why the GOP is wrong. Explain how conservative judges can affect civil liberties or make other changes that you think go against the national interest. But don't throw sand in the Senate's gears - not now. Not over this. You may be right in your opinions. But you're not so right that you should "stop the clock" and block a lawful and reasonable vote."

New York Daily News -- Governor George Pataki -- "Senate Should Confirm Estrada" -- 2/17/03
 http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ideas_opinions/story/60234p-56352c.html
"The support for Estrada is as deep as it is wide. Yet some Democrats in the Senate are filibustering his nomination - talking it to death and refusing to let their colleagues vote. That's just wrong. In fact, in the two centuries since our nation was founded, that has never happened to a nominee for the federal appellate courts. Simply put, the Senate should do its job, put aside partisan politics and vote on Estrada's nomination."

Chicago Sun-Times -- Bob Novak (syndicated) -- "24/7 Sessions Could Pass Estrada" -- 2/17/03
 http://www.suntimes.com/output/novak/cst-edt-novak17.html
"Estrada ... has encountered the Clarence Thomas problem: relentless opposition by the Democratic high command to any conservative member of a minority group whose leaders are wedded to the Democratic Party."

United Press International --- Gregory Tejeda, Weekly UPI Hispanidad Columnist --- "Halting Estrada won't beat GOP" -- 2/18/03
 http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20030217-102940-4872r
"Democrats want to find something that discredits Estrada as a "right wing nut" or "Hispanic sell-out." Sure, Estrada may be conservative, but it doesn't make him a sell-out. Many Hispanics are inherently conservative on social issues, particularly if their values are rooted in the Roman Catholic Church. ... Filibusters won't produce a justice more sympathetic on social issues. They only detract from what should be the goal of Democrats -- developing a cohesive reason why people should vote for their candidates in 2004."

Orlando Sentinel --- Mirian Marquez, Orlando Sentinel Columnist --- "Democrats playing dangerous game with Estrada nomination" --- 2/16/03
 http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/news/editorial/5200422.htm
"What we have here is an attempt by Hispanic groups aligned with the Democratic Party_the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund and the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund_to flunk Estrada simply because he refuses to take their political litmus test."
[republished in Fort Wayne News-Sentinel on 2/17/03]

New Haven Register --- Philip Terzian of the Providence Journal --- "Latino pick for bench too Republican" --- 2/17/03
 http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=7078217&BRD=1281&PAG=461&dept_id=7581&rfi=6
"That certain congressmen, and various pressure groups, harbor bigoted sentiments is no great revelation. What is surprising is that the Democratic Party endorses such convictions, and is willing to malign someone of Estrada’s caliber in order to appease the likes of the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund."
[Republished in Omaha World Herald on 2/15/03; originally published in Providence Journal]

The Times-News (Twin Falls, Idaho) --- Ruben Navarrette Jr. of the Dallas Morning News -- "Estrada Filibuster is Mostly Doubletalk -- 2/17/03
 http://www.magicvalley.com/news/editorials/index.asp?StoryID=274
"Democrats insist their opposition to Estrada has nothing to do with the fact that he is Hispanic. But that claim has nothing to do with reality. While it may not be fair to suggest Democrats are opposing Estrada just because he is Hispanic, it would be naive to think that they would oppose him as aggressively as they have if he were not Hispanic."
[republished in Sarasota Herald Tribune on 2/17/03; originally published in Dallas Morning News]

Anchorage Daily News --- Secretary Mel Martinez -- "Giving Minorities a Chance" -- 2/14/03
 http://www.adn.com/24hour/opinions/story/764772p-5512463c.html
"Simply put, I do not understand what Estrada's opponents have to fear in letting his nomination come to a vote. This is a land of opportunity, and we should never stand in the way of qualified individuals willing to commit to public service."
[syndicated widely via Scripps Howard]

Newark Star-Ledger --- Paul Mulshrine, Star-Ledger Columnist --- "The joke's on Bob Menendez" -- 2/18/03
 http://www.nj.com/columns/ledger/mulshine/index.ssf?/base/columns-0/1045552412150900.xml
"The Democratic argument, stripped to its essentials, is that the only real Hispanic is a liberal Hispanic. But many Hispanic Americans are conservatives, and no one should know this better than Robert Menendez."
 

 

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Last modified: 04/25/03