Remember Miguel Estrada !

Ah, yes, the wonderful, insperational story of Bronx girl Sonia Sotomayor - realy, besides a charming biography, what else does one require to become a lifetime member of the world's most powerful court?

And besides, she's Hispanic. Opposing her would make you a racist, you know.

Only...what about Miguel Estrada? You remember him - A Bush nominee to the D.C. Circut Court? What about his "life story" ?

Estrada was born in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. After his parents divorced, he immigrated to the United States to join his mother when he was 17, arriving with a limited command of English.
He graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa with a bachelor's degree from Columbia in 1983. He received a Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree magna cum laude in 1986 from Harvard Law School, where he was an editor of the Harvard Law Review. After law school, Estrada served as a law clerk to Judge Amalya Lyle Kearse of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He then clerked for Justice Anthony M. Kennedy of the U.S. Supreme Court during his first year on the Court in 1988.

From 1990 until 1992, Estrada served as Assistant U.S. Attorney and Deputy Chief of the Appellate Section, U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of New York. In 1992, he joined the United States Department of Justice as an Assistant to the Solicitor General for the Clinton Administration. In those capacities, Estrada represented the government in numerous jury trials and in many appeals before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Before joining the U.S. Attorney's Office, he practiced law in New York with Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz.

Estrada was married to Laury Gordon Estrada until her death at age 46 on November 28, 2004.

And what happened to Estrada?

Unable to block Estrada's nomination in the Senate Judiciary Committee after the Republican Party took control of the Senate in 2003, Senate Democrats used a filibuster to prevent his nomination from being given a final confirmation vote on the full Senate floor. Although a filibuster had been used in 1968 to prevent the elevation of Associate Justice Abe Fortas to the position of Chief Justice of the United States, Estrada's filibuster was the first ever to be used against a Circuit Court of Appeals nominee.

The Democrats would not even grant Estrada a vote — up or down. They blocked him entirely, on ideological grounds. And hsi racial makeup? Perhaps he was blocked directly because of it - after all, they couldn't allow the Republicans to fast-track Estrada and thus get credit for naming the first Hispanic to the Supreme Court.

Where's the screaming about Estrada's back story? Where's the finger-pointing of "racism" pointed at the Democratic leadership?

Jay Nordlinger:

Look: Vote for Sotomayor if you want to, because you like her views. But cut the crap about American stories. Such stories didn’t matter much when Miguel desired to serve.

The Republicans should bring this up, again and again and again. If only to point out the hypocrisy of the Left, and the media, as they inevitably scream about "hate crimes!" as the Republicans perform their due diligence and examine the questionable record of Sonia Sotomayor...