What you heard — and what you didn’t — from Bush about Estrada

The president’s radio address on Saturday was more annoying than usual. It was devoted exclusively to urging the Senate to vote on Miguel Estrada’s nomination to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.

“Vacant federal benches lead to crowded court dockets, overworked judges, and longer waits for Americans who want their cases heard,” Bush said. “Regional appeals courts have a 15 percent vacancy rate, and filings in those courts reached an all time high again last year.”

All of this, of course, is completely true. What Bush didn’t mention is that one of the reasons there are so many judicial slots to fill is that Republican senators, led by Orrin Hatch, blocked so many Clinton judicial nominees that it created a minor crisis on the courts. Congressional Republicans weren’t concerned about “crowded court dockets, overworked judges, and longer waits for Americans,” they wanted to remake the federal judiciary in their own image — with ultra-conservative judges. Clinton sent up moderate, well-qualified candidates (which, according to American Bar Association rankings, were no more liberal on average than Gerald Ford’s nominees to the federal bench), but the GOP assumed it could utilize delay tactics to “run out the clock” on the Clinton administration, justice be dammed.

Republicans’ gamble worked. The party’s underhanded tactics screwed the judicial branch, but a Republican president was inaugurated — one with a passion for nominating right wing judicial nominees.

Which brings us to Mr. Estrada and Bush efforts on his behalf. In touting his nominee’s qualifications, Bush noted that Estrada has “earned the American Bar Association’s highest mark.” Bush failed to mention that, according to a Newsday report, the same lawyer who recommended the ABA’s highest rating for Estrada “also worked for the Bush-Cheney Transition Team, accepted an appointment from the Bush administration and helped found a group to promote and run ads supporting Bush judicial nominees, including Estrada” (via Atrios). Pretty slimy.

Bush also argues that Estrada “would break through a barrier that has stood for too long,” implying that his administration will be opening doors heretofore closed to Hispanic Americans. Some, including Trent Lott of all people, have gone so far as to accuse Democrats of blocking Estrada’s nomination because of his ethnicity.

Putting aside for the moment the obvious retort — that Confederate flag-waving, Bob Jones University loving, affirmative action opposing Republicans have a lot of gall to accuse anyone of bigotry — one has to ask why Bush and his GOP allies weren’t concerned about this anti-Hispanic “barrier” during the Clinton years. As the Washington Post’s E.J. Dionne recently noted, “Republicans had no problem blocking such Hispanic Clinton nominees as Enrique Moreno, Jorge Rangel and Christine Arguello.”

Then Bush took a swing at the “endorsement” game by saying that Estrada has received support from the Hispanic National Bar Association and the League of United Latin American Citizens, among others. Bush mentioned these Hispanic American organizations to imply that Hispanics in this country support his nominee, but those mean Democrats don’t care. That’s probably why Bush didn’t mention that Estrada’s nomination is opposed by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, the United States Hispanic Leadership Institute, and the William C. Velasquez Institute among the dozens of organizations who are urging the Senate to reject Estrada’s nomination.

Bush concluded, “Some Senators, who once insisted that every appeals court nominee deserves a vote, have abandoned that principle for partisan politics.” This is largely true, ironically. Some Democrats who begged the GOP to vote on Clinton judicial nominees — up or down — said every nominee deserves a vote. And all things being equal, every nominee should get a chance on the Senate floor. But that’s just the point, all things are not equal. For the Democrats to allow the White House to steamroll judicial nominees through the Senate would do more than simply shift the balance of judicial power nationwide. It would also set a political precedent: delay, stall and equivocate just long enough to see if your party can take control of the presidency and you’ll get everything you want.