The Washington Post exposes more “nonsense” from Senate Democrats

This Washington Post editorial exposes the dishonesty of the latest Democratic spin on the Estrada nomination. The Democrats now try to justify their extraordinary filibuster of an indisputably qualified nominee by claiming that Estrada would not answer questions about his judicial philosophy during his confirmation hearing last fall. But the Post reminds us that, in fact, the Democrats asked Estrada virtually no questions about the basic methodological issues that divide the judiciary. Indeed, according to the Post, the Democrats failed to make “a remotely serious effort to discern who he is.” Instead, “Senator Schumer engaged in a demagogic effort to confront Mr. Estrada with anonymous allegations” about his alleged role in blackballing liberal law students who wanted to clerk for Justice Kennedy. The Post has figured out that the filibuster of Estrada’s nomination has nothing to do with Estrada’s allegedly inadequate answers to questions. The issue “is simply whether a conservative president can place on an appeals court a qualified conservative against whom no serious complaint has been made. The answer must be yes; for if he cannot, the courts will become the province of those anodyne centrists whose view don’t offend anyone in power.” Well said.