Tom Feeney: “Well, I have some sure thought, and then I know the gentleman has some other Members here that are really passionate…”

“Well, I have some sure thought, and then I know the gentleman has some other Members here that are really passionate about how offensive it is about what is happening to Miguel Estrada. But I will tell you this: There is a double standard. Miguel Estrada would be the first Hispanic ever on this bench. He is a Solicitor General not in just the Republican administration, but he worked for President Clinton's administration. He got high marks everywhere he worked. The problem is this. The critics of Miguel Estrada do not want a vote. They do not want a debate over his talents, his capabilities, his integrity, his morals, his academic achievements; and they especially do not want to discuss the fact that this wonderful gentleman came here as a 17-year-old, lived the American dream, and now is an outstanding American statesman. They cannot vote against a man if they have to live with a description of his incredible achievements. So what the critics are using is all sorts of excuses. And as the gentleman points out, they have never ever once demanded that any of the nominees in the past live up to the technical requirements that they are trying to place on him. The double standard the gentleman speaks about, in my view, is because Mr. Estrada is a lesson to Americans that you do not have to think, just because you are a Hispanic American, in a one-little-box mentality. You do not have to be a liberal activist.”