Nevada State Senate to Congress: Stop Obstructing the Estrada Nomination

Nevada state senate passes resolution asking U.S. Sen. Harry Reid (D) to allow a floor vote on judicial nominee.

WASHINGTON – Yesterday, Nevada\’s State Senate passed Senate Joint Resolution 6, requesting that U.S. Sens. Harry Reid (D) and John Ensign (R) allow a floor vote in the U.S. Senate on the appointment of judicial nominee Miguel Estrada. The resolution passed by a 13-8 vote and awaits action in the Assembly.

Estrada is President Bush\’s nominee for the federal Court of Appeals based in Washington, DC. His nomination has been held up for well over a year.

As Senate Minority Whip, Harry Reid (D) is a part of Democratic leadership in the U.S. Senate. He is responsible for leading the charge on filibustering a floor vote on Miguel Estrada, and thus shutting down work in the legislative body. As the chief vote-counter for Senate Democrats, Mr. Reid is responsible for insuring the 41 votes needed to block the vote. Since February 6th, the Senate has spent nearly 100 hours debating the Miguel Estrada nomination. This obstruction comes at a time when the country is fighting a war, the economy is slumping, and the War on Terrorism is heating up. Meanwhile, the Senate cannot go about daily work until the filibuster is either defeated by a vote to end floor debate or the nomination is pulled.

"Senate Democrats have undertaken a style of raw, vile, snakepit politics at its worst," said taxpayer advocate Grover Norquist, "and all at a time when the United States is fighting a two-front war against terrorism and Saddam Hussein – not to mention that the economy is in the doldrums." Norquist is president of Americans for Tax Reform (ATR), the nation\’s leading taxpayer advocacy organization, and a critic of the politicization of the judicial nomination process.

On February 18th, The Washington Post called on Senate Democrats to "Stop These Games and Vote."
"The Nevada Senate has it right," continued Norquist, "and one of Nevada\’s U.S. Senators [Reid] should listen to voters instead of counting his votes like Ebenezer Scrooge counts his money. It is obvious that Sen. Reid does not want to support a well-qualified, well-respected Latino man to a high bench just because he doesn\’t like President Bush."