[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.