[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 26 (Wednesday, February 12, 2003)]
[House]
[Page H456]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      IN SUPPORT OF MIGUEL ESTRADA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Kennedy) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. KENNEDY of Minnesota. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the 
nomination for Miguel Estrada to the District of Columbia Circuit Court 
of Appeals. This is an extremely well-qualified candidate that I am 
happy to speak in support of.
  This is someone that the American Bar Association, it is not just me 
who is saying positive things about him, has described as ``well 
qualified.''
  He was born and raised in Honduras. He would be the first Hispanic 
ever to sit on the U.S. Court of Appeals in the D.C. Circuit, which 
many consider the second highest court in our land.
  He has extensive appellate experience and is widely regarded as 
really one of this country's best appellate lawyers. He has argued 15 
cases before the U.S. Supreme Court.
  If we look at the background and the strong support and experience 
that he is bringing to this position, he graduated magna cum laude from 
Columbia, something that is a high distinction amongst any group. He 
also graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School, with a JD 
degree, where he was the editor of the Harvard Law Review.
  After that he went on to become a clerk in the U.S. Court of Appeals 
in the Second Circuit and also a law clerk for justice Anthony Kennedy, 
no relation, on the U.S. Supreme Court. Following that, he was 
Assistant U.S. Attorney and Deputy Chief of the Appellate Section of 
the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Southern District of New York, a very 
highly respected district, and was Assistant to the Solicitor General 
of the United States under both President Clinton and under George 
Herbert Walker Bush. So he has had experience really working under both 
administrations and both sides had previously affirmed him to be a very 
well-qualified candidate.
  So this is someone that brings some experiences that we should be 
very pleased to accept in this important position.
  He has strong support among the Latino community. I know Robert 
Deposada, who I had the opportunity to be in a different event with 
here just recently, says of him, ``to deny Latinos, the Nation's 
largest minority, the opportunity to have one of their own serve on 
this court in our Nation's capital is unforgivable.'' I would certainly 
agree.

                              {time}  2200

  Mr. Speaker, there are some that would make the claim that he lacks 
judicial experience, but I would say five of the eight judges currently 
serving in the D.C. court had no previous judicial experience, 
including Byron White, who was nominated by President Kennedy, and our 
current Chief Justice Rehnquist, who had no prior judicial experience. 
Some would say that he has refused to provide memorandum that he 
provided when he was assistant Solicitor General. But I would remind 
everyone that that was not requested of seven previous nominees to the 
court of appeals that had worked in the Solicitor General's office, and 
every living former Solicitor General, Democrat or Republican, has 
signed a joint letter to the committee stating that this request would 
be debilitating on the ability of the Justice Department to represent 
the United States before the Supreme Court.
  So this is a justice and someone who brings unbelievable experience 
to our courts, someone who we should reach out and welcome, and I 
certainly am pleased to have the opportunity to join the many 
colleagues that have been on this floor here earlier today to speak on 
his behalf, and I would urge all of my colleagues to do so.

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