[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 39, Number 11 (Monday, March 17, 2003)]
[Pages 315-316]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Letter to Senate Leaders on the Nomination of Miguel A. Estrada To Be 
Circuit Judge for the District of Columbia Circuit

March 11, 2003

Dear __________ :

    The Senate is debating the nomination of Miguel A. Estrada to be a 
Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia 
Circuit. Miguel Estrada's life is an example of the American Dream. He 
came to this country from Honduras as a teenager barely speaking English 
and went on to graduate with honors from Harvard Law School. He has 
argued 15 cases before the Supreme Court of the United States and served 
in the United States Department of Justice under Presidents of both 
political parties. The American Bar Association has given him its 
highest rating. When appointed, he will be the first Hispanic ever to 
serve on the D.C. Circuit.
    I submitted Mr. Estrada's nomination to the Senate on May 9, 2001. 
But his nomination has been stalled for partisan reasons for nearly 2 
years in which the Senate has not held a vote either to confirm or to 
reject the nomination.
    The Senate has a solemn responsibility to exercise its 
constitutional advice and consent function and hold up or down votes on 
judicial nominees within a reasonable time after nomination. Senators 
who are filibustering a vote on Miguel Estrada are flouting the 
intention of the United States Constitution and the tradition of the 
United States Senate. The filibuster is the culmination of an escalating 
series of back-and-forth tactics that have marred the judicial 
confirmation process for years, as many judicial nominees have never 
received up or down Senate votes. And now, a minority of Senators are 
threatening for the first time to use ideological filibusters as a 
standard tool to indefinitely block confirmation of well-qualified 
nominees with strong bipartisan support. This has to end.
    The judicial confirmation process is broken, and the consequences 
for the American people are real. Because of the Senate's failure to 
hold timely votes, the number of judicial vacancies has been 
unacceptably high during my Presidency and those of President Bill 
Clinton and President George H.W. Bush. The Chief Justice has warned 
that the high number of judicial vacancies, when combined with the ever-
increasing caseloads, leads to crowded courts and threatens the 
administration of justice. When understaffed, the Federal courts cannot 
act in a timely manner to resolve disputes that affect the lives and 
liberties of all Americans. The courts cannot decide constitutional 
cases promptly, which harms people seeking to vindicate and protect 
their rights, and the courts cannot rule on commercial cases 
efficiently, which hurts the economy, businesses, and workers. Our 
system of equal justice under law administered fairly and efficiently is 
at risk. The American Bar Association in 2002 accurately described the 
situation as an ``emergency.''
    My concern about the state of the judicial confirmation process is 
not new. In June 2000, I proposed timely votes for all nominees, stating 
that the confirmation process ``does not empower anyone to turn the 
process into a protracted ordeal of unreasonable delay and unrelenting 
investigation.'' In May

[[Page 316]]

2001, when I announced my first judicial nominations, I urged the Senate 
to rise above the bitterness of the past and again asked that every 
judicial nominee receive a timely up or down vote. In October 2002, 
after nearly two additional years in which too many nominees did not 
receive votes, I proposed a specific, commonsense plan involving all 
three Branches that, among other steps, would ensure that all judicial 
nominees receive an up or down Senate vote within 180 days of 
nomination.
    Over the years, many Senators of both political parties have 
publicly agreed with the principle that every judicial nominee should 
receive a timely up or down Senate vote. Similarly, the Federal 
Judiciary, speaking through the Chief Justice in his 2001 Year-End 
Report, has stated that the Senate should ``schedule up or down votes on 
judicial nominees within a reasonable time after receiving the 
nomination.''
    I ask Senators of both parties to come together to end the 
escalating cycle of blame and bitterness and to restore fairness, 
predictability, and dignity to the process. I ask that the Senate take 
action, including adoption of a permanent rule, to ensure timely up or 
down votes on judicial nominations both now and in the future, no matter 
who is President or which party controls the Senate. This is the only 
way to ensure that our Judiciary works and that good people remain 
willing to be nominated to the Federal bench.
    All Senators should have a chance to have their voices heard and 
their votes counted. All Presidents should have their judicial nominees 
considered and voted upon in a reasonable time. All nominees should have 
the certainty of an up or down Senate vote within a reasonable time. All 
Judges should have the assurance that vacancies on their courts will not 
persist for years. And all Americans should have the assurance that the 
Federal courts will remain open and fully staffed to resolve their 
disputes and protect their rights and liberties.
    As I stated last October, the current state of affairs in the United 
States Senate is not merely another round of political wrangling. It is 
a disturbing failure to meet a responsibility under the Constitution. 
Our country deserves better, the process can work better, and we can 
make it better. The Constitution has given us a shared duty, and we must 
meet that duty together. Thank you for your attention to this important 
matter.
     Sincerely,
                                                George W. Bush

Note: Letters were sent to Bill Frist, Senate majority leader, and 
Thomas A. Daschle, Senate minority leader. An original was not available 
for verification of the content of this letter.