OK to be conservative and Hispanic

The U.S. Senate has adjourned for this year without having been able to fill a vacancy in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. Two minority attorneys have been nominated by President Bush to fill this vacancy; one withdrew after more than two years without even obtaining an up or down vote, and the other seems to be headed down the same path. Do these individuals not have the necessary credentials? Do they not meet the standard? Or have they been treated unfairly because they are conservative minorities?

Every parent, especially those who are recent immigrants, hopes his or her child can fully benefit from the American Dream. Many parents make great sacrifices so that their children can have the opportunities that perhaps they were not afforded. Unfortunately, few minorities are able to overcome what at times seem significant odds to reach the highest pinnacles within their professions. Such is the case of both Miguel Estrada and Janice Rogers Brown.

Estrada came to this country at the age of 17 from Central America, knowing very little English. He went to Columbia University, where he graduated with honors. He then graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School and clerked for the U.S. Supreme Court. Since then he has served as assistant solicitor general, and he is currently a partner in a prestigious D.C. law firm.

Brown, an African-American, grew up as a sharecropper's daughter in segregated Alabama. She worked her way through college and law school as a single mother. After much hard work, she was appointed to the California Supreme Court. She was later re-elected, in a state not known for being conservative, by more than three-quarters of the vote.

Estrada became the first Hispanic ever to be nominated to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, the second highest court in the land. His nomination should have been welcomed by Hispanic organizations who claim to advocate the need to have more Hispanic judges. They should have supported his nomination, not simply because he is a Hispanic and the epitome of a Hispanic success story, but because he is extremely qualified. He received the highest possible rating given by the American Bar Association. Ironically, some of these groups who claim to want to help Hispanics succeed opposed his nomination saying he is too conservative for a Hispanic. Do you need to think a certain way to be "Hispanic"? If you think differently than these groups, then are you not Hispanic enough?