WASHINGTON, Sept. 25 (UPI) -- Democratic senators said Wednesday the Department of Justice has not provided key evidence of controversial Hispanic judicial nominee Miguel Estrada's legal thinking for Thursday's hearing on his confirmation.
The department has denied a Senate Judiciary Committee request to release judicial memos written by Estrada, who is a nominee for the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, aides to the committee said. Estrada served in the Solicitor General's office from 1992-1997, and was accused by a former deputy solicitor general of being a "right-wing ideologue."
"People have a whole lot of questions, and there's not much paper. He's not been a sitting judge, so we don't know how he'd rule on decisions," said Sen. Chuck Schumer, D- N.Y. "My main concern is: Is he outside the mainstream? He's clearly conservative, and that's OK, but not if he's outside the mainstream."
No Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee have indicated they would support Estrada, suggesting that his nomination could fail along party lines.
For months, Senate Republicans and Attorney General John Ashcroft have called for the committee to confirm the 40-year-old Washington attorney, who, if appointed, would be the first Hispanic to sit on the D.C. District Court of Appeals, widely considered the second most important court in the nation.
Estrada, a member of the conservative Federalist Society, was nominated by President George W. Bush 16 months ago, and the long delay has led Republicans to accuse Democrats of foot-dragging.
Estrada's ethnicity has become a lighting rod complicating the hearing process. Republicans have accused Democrats of opposing Estrada because he is Hispanic. Democrats have accused Republicans of using Estrada's ethnicity, as an excuse to appoint a judge they claim is overly conservative.
Supporters praise Estrada's record as a Honduran immigrant who has argued 15 cases before the Supreme Court and works for the law firm that represented President George Bush in the 2000 election, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. The American Bar Association rated him as "well qualified" for the appellate court.
"Its now been 16 months since he's been nominated, and they still don't have a thing on him, except that he's conservative. It's disgraceful," said Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee.
But even Hispanic groups have been divided in their support. The Congressional Hispanic Caucus, a group composed almost completely of Democratic members of Congress, said Wednesday it was opposing Estrada on the grounds that he has not done enough for the Hispanic community.
"We like to see that Hispanic judicial nominees have demonstrated a commitment to protecting the rights of Latinos through professional work and pro bono work; to preserving and expanding the progress that has been made on their rights; and to expanding opportunities for Latinos in the legal profession. Mr. Estrada falls short of these criteria in each of these categories," said Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas.
Representatives of the Latino Coalition and the Young Hispanic Republican Association, meanwhile, appeared Wednesday at a press conference with Hatch and other supporters of Estrada.
"The problem with Estrada is that he's a Hispanic, conservative, Republican, and they don't like that, and that's pure bull as far as I'm concerned," Hatch said. "If we took that attitude, there would have been a lot of people that wouldn't have made it into the federal courts under Clinton."
The D.C. Court of Appeals is considered a stepping stone to the U.S. Supreme Court. Once appointed, its judges serve for life.
The court has four vacancies and eight active judges -- four Republicans and four Democrats. No one has been confirmed for the court in five years.
Estrada was born in Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras, and his father was a commercial lawyer. He moved to New York at age 17, and graduated near the top of his class at Columbia College and Harvard Law School. His professional life has been divided between New York and Washington.
He served as a clerk for Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, worked for Solicitor General Kenneth W. Starr in the first Bush administration and then continued his position as assistant to Solicitor General Drew S. Days III in the Clinton administration.
It was then that he worked with Paul Bender, the deputy solicitor general, who has told reporters Estrada was so "ideologically driven that he couldn't be trusted to state the law in a fair, neutral way." Bender could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
Bender's comments are part of the reason the committee requested the Department of Justice documents on Estrada's record, an aide to the judicial committee said.
But the Department of Justice responded Wednesday that there was no precedent for the memos to be released. The release of the information would compromise the ability of attorneys in the Solicitor General's office to function properly, spokeswoman Monica Goodling said.
