HispanicBusiness

WASHINGTON -- President Bush's nomination of Miguel Estrada, a conservative Washington lawyer who would be the first Hispanic on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, is dividing the Latino community.

Estrada, a native of Tegucigalpa, Honduras, wins cheers from conservative Hispanic organizations but no enthusiasm from liberal Latino groups who say his views are too extreme.

The stakes are high because the D.C. Court of Appeals is a possible springboard to a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court, where at least one of three justices -- John Paul Stevens, Sandra Day O'Connor or William Rehnquist -- is expected to step down in the near future.

Republicans hope that placing a Latino in a highly visible judgeship would earn good will with the growing numbers of Hispanic voters. Conservatives hope Estrada would eventually become the first Latino named to the high court.

Robert Deposada, president of the Latino Coalition, which represents five conservative and moderate Hispanic groups that back Estrada's nomination, says he is extremely well qualified for the judgeship. Deposada says no one is questioning the prospective judge's qualifications or character, just his conservative bent.

Estrada, 40, immigrated to this country when he was 14 and couldn't speak English. He ended up graduating Phi Beta Kappa from Columbia University and magna cum laude from Harvard Law School, where he was editor of the Harvard Law Review.

"For anybody to question that this man does not know what a Latino goes through in this country is ludicrous," Deposada said.

Deposada says liberal Latino groups are "nitpicking to find whatever they can to build a case against him."

"The arguments they are using is that this guy is not really a Hispanic" because he is conservative. "To me, that is the biggest insult you could possibly give."

Because Estrada has never been a judge, he lacks much of a paper trail for critics to attack. But he does have a golden résumé of conservative credentials.

Estrada is a partner at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, a Los Angeles-based law firm that represented Bush before the Supreme Court during the contested 2000 election.

He also worked for then-Solicitor General Kenneth Starr during the first Bush administration and was a law clerk for Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy.

Estrada is also a member of the Federalist Society, a conservative group formed at the University of Chicago in 1983 with Antonin Scalia, the future Supreme Court justice, and Robert Bork as faculty advisers. Bork's own Supreme Court nomination was defeated in 1987 largely because of his conservative views.

Marisa Demeo, regional counsel for the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, a national Latino civil rights group, said her organization and other liberal advocacy groups have spotted red flags while combing Estrada's record.

Demeo said her group is investigating pro bono litigation that Estrada handled in defending anti-loitering ordinances, which she said are often used to target Latinos.

Demeo said she is also concerned about Estrada's view of affirmative action based on comments he made to USA TODAY in 1998 about the lack of minority-group members among Supreme Court law clerks.

"If there was some reason for underrepresentation, it would be something to look into," Estrada was quoted as saying. "But I don't have any reason to think it's anything other than a reflection of trends in society."

Demeo said the quote appears to indicate that Estrada is on the "other side" of the affirmative action issue, a stance that her organization opposes.

Carlos Ortiz, chairman of the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, a national civil rights organization, said he has "various concerns" about whether Estrada is qualified for the court. The group has not declared its position on the nomination.

Ortiz said he questions whether Estrada has the "sensitivity, patience and compassion" to be a judge. Of "foremost" importance to his group is the question of whether Estrada "has demonstrated interest and a meaningful involvement in the work and activities of the Hispanic community. ... We just don't rubber-stamp people," Ortiz said.

Lawmakers on the Senate Judiciary Committee, which reviews nominations, are sharply split.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., calls Estrada much too conservative to be a good candidate for the court of appeals. "Nominees have to be mainstream," Feinstein said. "There is no mandate to skew the courts."

Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., chairman of the Senate Judiciary panel, has promised that Estrada will get a hearing and a committee vote on his nomination this year.

Leahy said Estrada will have to wait in line behind other nominees, however, because he is so controversial.

But Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, the ranking Republican on the panel, said Democrats are stalling because they hope to block Estrada from taking a step that could eventually lead to a seat on the Supreme Court.

Bush nominated Estrada nearly a year ago on May 9.