    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2003, Book I)]
    [February 22, 2003]
    [Pages 197-198]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    The President's Radio Address
    February 22, 2003

        Good morning. This week, Members of the House and Senate will return
    to Washington with a full agenda to address, from strengthening our
    economy to reforming health care, to protecting national security.
        On the Senate side, there is a crucial item of business that has
    been delayed for too long. We face a vacancy crisis in the Federal
    courts, made worse by Senators who block votes on qualified nominees.
    These delays endanger American justice. Vacant Federal benches lead to
    crowded court dockets, overworked judges, and longer waits for Americans
    who want their cases heard. Regional appeals courts have a 15-percent
    vacancy rate, and filings in those courts reached an alltime high again
    last year.
        Since taking office, I have sent to the Senate 34 qualified
    mainstream nominees for the Federal courts of appeals. To date, only
    half of them have received a vote in the Senate, and 12 of the remaining
    17 nominees have been waiting more than a year for a floor vote.
        It is my responsibility to submit judicial nominations. It is the
    Senate's responsibility to conduct prompt hearings and an up-or-down
    floor vote on all judicial nominees. Yet a handful of Democratic
    Senators, for partisan reasons, are attempting to prevent any vote at
    all on highly qualified nominees.
        One of these nominees is Miguel Estrada, my selection for the DC Court of Appeals. I submitted his
    nomination in May of 2001, and Miguel Estrada has been waiting ever
    since. That's almost 2 years, and that's a disgrace.
        Miguel Estrada's credentials are
    impeccable. He has served in the Justice Department under Presidents of
    both political parties. He's argued 15 cases before the U.S. Supreme
    Court, and he has earned the American Bar Association's highest mark, a
    unanimous rating of ``well-qualified.''
        Miguel Estrada is an exceptional
    nominee for the Federal bench. He also has a remarkable personal story.
    He came to America from Honduras as a teenager, speaking little English.
    Within a few years, he had graduated with high honors from Columbia
    College and Harvard Law School. Miguel Estrada then served as a law
    clerk to Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, as a Federal prosecutor
    in

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    New York, and as assistant to the Solicitor General of the United
    States.
        If confirmed, Miguel Estrada would be
    the first Hispanic American ever to serve on this court, which is often
    considered the second highest in the land. He would break through a
    barrier that has stood for too long. His nomination has strong support
    from citizens and leaders in both parties and endorsements from the
    Hispanic National Bar Association, the League of United Latin American
    Citizens, and more than a dozen other distinguished groups. He's a role
    model for young people all across this Nation, living proof that in
    America, anything is possible.
        I nominated Miguel Estrada for the
    Court of Appeals because he's a man of talent and character who will be
    an excellent judge. Yet after 21 months, he still cannot get an up-or-
    down vote from the Senate. Democrats are stalling Miguel Estrada's
    nomination, while they search in vain for a reason to reject him. Some
    Senators who once insisted that every appeals court nominee deserves a
    vote have abandoned that principle for partisan politics. Their tactics
    are unfair to the good man I have nominated and unfaithful to the
    Senate's own obligations.
        I call on the Senate Democratic leadership to stop playing politics
    and permit a vote on Miguel Estrada's
    nomination. Let each Senator vote as he or she thinks best, but give the
    man a vote.
        Thank you for listening.

    Note: The address was recorded at 10 a.m. on February 21 at the Bush
    Ranch in Crawford, TX, for broadcast at 10:06 a.m. on February 22. The
    transcript was made available by the Office of the Press Secretary on
    February 21 but was embargoed for release until the broadcast. The
    Office of the Press Secretary also released a Spanish language
    transcript of this address.