The Right’s Supreme Court Acquiescence

Miguel Estrada is a highly esteemed conservative lawyer whose nomination to serve as a judge on the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia by President George W. Bush was stymied by the Democrats. In no small part, Democrats made this effort because they feared that allowing an intelligent, conservative Hispanic to get experience on the Court of Appeals would make him an appealing candidate for a future Supreme Court opening.

Estrada has written a letter urging the quick confirmation of Elena Kagan, President Obama’s nominee for the Supreme Court, to fill the seat currently held by Justice John Paul Stevens.

The letter certainly takes the high road, ignoring all the vitriol directed against Estrada, when, for example, then-Senator Kennedy proclaimed Estrada’s ultimate withdrawal from consideration “a victory for the constitution.”

Instead, Estrada appeals to more conventional credentials:

Elena possesses a formidable intellect, an exemplary temperament and a rare ability to disagree with others without being disagreeable. She is calm under fire and mature and deliberate in her judgments. Elena would also bring to the Court a wealth of experience at the highest levels of our government and of academia, including teaching at the University of Chicago, serving as the Dean of the Harvard Law school and experience at the White House and as the current Solicitor General of the United States. If such a person, who has demonstrated great intellect, high accomplishments and an upright life, is not easily confirmable, I fear we will have reached a point where no capable person will readily accept a nomination for judicial service.

Estrada specifically disavows ideology -- at least within the “mainstream” of current legal thought -- as a legitimate basis for voting against a Supreme Court nominee:

…I should make clear that I believe her views on the subjects that are relevant to her pending nomination…are as firmly center-left as my own are center-right.”

And Estrada defends the right of a president to nominate judges he is ideologically in affinity with:

One of the prerogatives of the President under our Constitution is to nominate high federal officers, including judges, who share his (or her) governing philosophies.

Although one can understand Estrada’s personal desire to be magnanimous in defeat, his letter is ill-advised.

From a purely tactical stand-point, the implications of what Estrada is saying are obvious: If the Democrats block nominees on ideological grounds -- as they did with Estrada -- and the Republicans rely on traditional credentials, eschewing ideology, we will wind up with a court of well-credentialed liberals.

The bigger issue, though, is that Estrada’s letter implies that the Democrats are right -- that the issue is substantive -- whether we nominate someone with a “center-right” or “center-left” ideology.

Contrast this with Antonin Scalia and his critique of the idea of the “Living Constitution” and the threat that concept poses to our country and our Constitution. He made this point at an address to the Woodrow Wilson International Center for scholars in 2005: