Review & Outlook

The Liberal Hacienda

Here's today's political diversity quiz: When is an Hispanic-American not really Hispanic?

Answer: When he's one of President Bush's potential nominees to the U.S. Supreme Court.

We're referring to 39-year-old Miguel Estrada, who immigrated from Honduras at age 17, taught himself English, graduated from Harvard Law, argued cases before the Supreme Court as a deputy in the U.S. Solicitor General's office and is now a private attorney. Mr. Bush has nominated him for a seat on the prestigious D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.

This sounds like an American success story to us. But to some Hispanic liberals, ideology is thicker than skin pigment. You see, Mr. Estrada is a judicial conservative, which means he's the wrong kind of diversity hire.

We came across this splendid logic in a letter that deserves more exposure. It's addressed to Pat Leahy, the new chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, from the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, or PRLDEF. "As one of the leading legal organizations based in the Hispanic community, we are extremely concerned about Mr. Estrada's nomination," says the letter.

Why? Well, PRLDEF and its president, Juan Figueroa, don't yet know enough about Mr. Estrada to say. "Our investigation," says the letter, "is difficult and proceeding slowly because this nominee has not reduced his opinions to writing."

But give them time. Mr. Figueroa's letter says he has received "reports" about "the nominee's ultra-conservative views." And these reports, though lacking any specifics, suggest he is "totally insensitive to the interests, views and concerns of Hispanics and other minorities in our nation."

The letter continues, again without evidence, that "We have reason to believe that Mr. Estrada may not have the compassion, open mindedness, sensitivity, courtesy, patience and freedom from bias," yada, yada, yada. In short, PRLDEF wants Mr. Leahy to make Mr. Estrada his first judicial pinata.

We called Mr. Figueroa to make sure he was of sound mind when he wrote this, and apparently so. Mr. Estrada doesn't belong to any of the usual liberal Latino groups, Mr. Figueroa told us. Instead he belongs to the Federalist Society, a group of conservative-leaning lawyers that sponsors conferences. "I don't think Latinos have been generally known to be conservative," he said.

So there it is. The only real Latino is a liberal Latino. We wonder what other Hispanic Americans think of this, for example the 61% of them who are pro-life, according to a recent Zogby poll? Or the 80% of them who favor school choice? Maybe it's PRLDEF, with its liberal intolerance, that is out of the Hispanic mainstream.

Not that we know or care what Mr. Estrada believes on these matters. We do know that, although he supports the death penalty, he donated 450 hours to try and spare the life of a condemned murderer in Virginia. And we know that despite his conservatism he represented the National Organization for Women in a case seeking to use the RICO statute against anti-abortion protesters. He won, alas.

But these signs of legal independence don't matter to today's judicial left. They've reduced the law to a scramble for power. Diversity is a tool to be exploited when it's useful but discarded when it's not.

It'd be nice to think Mr. Leahy would rise above this debased politics and give Mr. Estrada an early hearing and vote. But don't hold your breath. Senate Democrats don't want to publicly oppose a Hispanic nominee, but they also don't want to confirm a conservative who's a plausible candidate for the Supreme Court once he's on the D.C. Circuit. We hope Mr. Bush makes the fair treatment of his nominees, Hispanic and otherwise, an issue.

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