Chuck Schumer: “I am happy to read the letter. What I was saying was that of 10 Hispanic appellate judges currently seated in the…”

“I am happy to read the letter. What I was saying was that of 10 Hispanic appellate judges currently seated in the Federal courts, eight were appointed by President Clinton. Three other Hispanic nominees of President Clinton to the appellate courts were blocked by my friends from the party on the other side, in addition to others for the district courts. In fact, in contrast to President Bush's selection of only one Hispanic circuit court nominee in more than 2 years, with the second being nominated only last week, three of President Clinton's first 14 judicial nominees were Hispanic. He nominated more than 30 Hispanics to the Federal courts. I am not saying Clinton's superior record on appointing Hispanic judges makes anyone on the other side or President Bush anti-Hispanic. That claim would be ludicrous, the same as to say those of us who are opposing the nomination of Miguel Estrada are anti-Hispanic. I just want to go over what happened to some Hispanic nominees when the Republicans ran the Senate during President Clinton's tenure. The consideration of Judge Richard Paez was delayed for over 1,500 days. Thirty-nine Republicans voted against it, because of his liberalism and their allegations that he was a judicial activist. These allegations were centered around two sentences contained in a lecture he gave to an audience of law students. They ran Judge Paez up and down the ladder. They demanded he answer more questions and produce more documents.…”