Good morning! Muy Buenas Dias!

As the National President of the League of United Latin American Citizens, this nation's oldest and largest membership based Hispanic organization; I come before you today to urge the United States Senate to confirm Miguel Estrada to the DC Circuit Court of Appeals.

Miguel Estrada is an exceptionally well qualified candidate to the DC Circuit. He graduated magna cum laude from Columbia University and magna cum laude from Harvard Law School, where he was an editor of the Harvard Law Review.

He clerked for Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy-one of the more moderate Republican appointees who continues to be Estrada's mentor. He has argued fifteen cases before the Supreme Court and received a unanimous "well qualified" rating from the American Bar Association-the organization's highest possible evaluation.

Miguel Estrada is considered by all who have worked with him to be a brilliant attorney who has demonstrated the ability to set aside any personal beliefs he may have and effectively argue cases based on the US constitution and the law.

Perhaps the most compelling praise in support of Mr. Estrada's nomination has come from Democratic political appointees who worked with him in the Clinton Administration. In fact, no fewer than five high ranking Clinton appointees who worked closely with Mr. Estrada have praised him for his brilliance, compassion, fairness and respect for precedent.

Yet a handful of Senate Democrats are considering a filibuster of the Estrada nomination over concerns that he could tip the evenly balanced DC Circuit to the right. Senator Schumer, during a hearing on September 24th, unveiled this strategy when he stated "Now, for the first time in a long time, there is some balance on the DC Circuit: 4 Republican judges and 4 Democrats. Some of us would like to keep balance on this all-important court - not giving either side an ideological edge."

But from LULAC's perspective there is no balance…not on this court…nor on any other. There is no balance because there has never been a Hispanic confirmed to the DC Circuit. There has never been a Hispanic even nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court. In fact, only 3.7% of federal court justices are Hispanic even though fully 14% of the US population is Hispanic. This is not what we in the Hispanic community call balance Mr. Schumer…it is what we call discrimination.

LULAC is extremely concerned that this politicization of the confirmation process is adversely affecting Hispanic nominations to the courts. In this case, Miguel Estrada was nominated on May 9, 2001. He did not receive his first hearing until September 26, 2002, 16 months after his nomination. Now his opponents complain that they have not had enough time to evaluate his record and that his nomination should not be rushed to a vote.

We believe that a nominee should not have to wait 21 months for a vote and that the Senate has had plenty of opportunity to consider Miguel Estrada's qualifications. This same tactic was used to delay Richard Paez's nomination for more than 4 years. It was unfair then and it is unfair now.

Any attorney who has argued 15 cases before the US Supreme Court has an extensive legal track record that can be analyzed for accuracy, quality, judicial temperament and bias. Yet, incredibly, Mr. Estrada's detractors claim that his legal record is too thin for them to make an informed decision on his nomination. This claim underscores the opposition's biggest problem…there is nothing in Miguel Estrada's extensive record that would lead a reasonable person to conclude anything other than this nominee is an exceptionally well qualified, highly principled attorney, who will make a fine judge on the DC Circuit.

On October 15, 1999, Senator Patrick Leahy said "The Senate should treat minority and women nominees fairly and proceed to consider them with the same speed and deference that it shows other nominees." We agree.

It was easy back then for Senator Leahy to make such a statement because the President and the nominees were from his party. Now the tables have turned and the Senate Democrats have to choose between supporting the nomination of an extremely well-qualified minority candidate for the DC Circuit or taking the extraordinary step of filibustering his nomination to advance their own partisan objectives.

The League of United Latin American Citizens urges the Senate to put principle over partisanship, inclusion over exclusion, diversity over ideology, and vote yes on Miguel Estrada. The 41 million Hispanic Americans in the United States await your answer.