Republicans charge racism
04/21/2002 11:56 PM EDT
WASHINGTON (SH) - In a fierce political battle over a Latino lawyer considered a strong future candidate for the U.S. Supreme Court, Republicans have launched a major offensive on behalf of Honduras-born Miguel Estrada.
President Bush nominated Estrada, a 40-year-old Washington lawyer known as a staunch conservative, last May to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, a regular jumping-off point for the high court.
But the Democratic-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee has refused to hold hearings on Estrada, a critical step toward seating him on the appeals court.
Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said he would hold hearings sometime this year, thus raising chances that the Estrada nomination would not hit the Senate floor until next year, after the mid-term congressional election in November.
Aides to Leahy said on condition of anonymity that they expect hearings on Estrada to begin within the next two months.
"Mr. Estrada is likely to be the first Hispanic-American to sit on the Supreme Court," said Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee. "That's the thing they are holding against him."
Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., described Estrada as "Clarence Thomas all over again," referring to the black Supreme Court justice whose nomination by President George Bush a decade ago created a political firestorm.
In opposing Estrada, said Santorum, liberals are saying, "If you're a minority and a conservative, we hate you."
From
www.blackamericaweb.com
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Not "Clarence Thomas all over again!"
Republicans charge racism
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