By Rick Manning
Obama D.C. Superior Court nominee Marisa Demeo is one of those uniquely liberal creations — someone with the philosophical flexibility to oppose a Hispanic nominee to the U.S. District Court of Appeals because he didn’t meet an affirmative action litmus test.
Yes, that’s right. Demeo as a regional counsel for the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Education Fund actually argued against the placement of a Hispanic onto the federal court that has proved to be a stepping stone to the Supreme Court because she feared that this particular Hispanic, Miguel Estrada, opposed creating forced guidelines for appointing other Hispanics.
It is this exact kind of tortured logic that Senator Jim DeMint is seeking to keep off the bench through placing a hold on her nomination. After all, Demeo supports affirmative action for Hispanics, but opposes extraordinarily qualified Hispanics from advancing on their own merits without the benefit of quotas.
Even more importantly, Demeo clearly wants to drown out the voices of conservative Hispanics, much like liberal black leaders fear the voices of Justice Clarence Thomas, Thomas Sowell and J.C. Watts, Jr.
Senator DeMint is to be commended for his efforts to prevent this ideologue from a permanent, lifetime spot on the federal bench.
After all, if Demeo did not find Estrada suitable, then she should certainly be held to the same standards.
Remember Miguel Estrada came to his nomination with one of those compelling American success stories that make most people feel like they can overcome any obstacle. Born in Honduras, Estrada came to the United States at the age of seventeen, not knowing a word of English. He learned the language almost instantly, and within a few years was graduating with honors from Columbia University and heading off to Harvard Law School. He clerked for Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, was a prosecutor in New York, and worked at the Justice Department in Washington before entering private practice.
Yet, Mr. Estrada was not good enough for Demeo as he didn’t pass her litmus test for what a Hispanic should think and say.
Now, Obama wants the Senate to confirm Demeo, and hopefully, her meager background as a Hard Left advocate will be subjected to the same scrutiny that she felt appropriate for Mr. Estrada. Of course, those same Democratic Senators who decried Mr. Estrada’s nomination stalling it until it died, are now fulminating about unnecessary delays imposed by Senator DeMint’s hold on Demeo’s nomination.
Ironic, isn’t it?
Rick Manning is the Communications Director of Americans for Limited Government.
