Sexism, racism, real roots of filibusters, says women’s group

Washington D.C., May 12, 2005 / 22:00 pm

The Washington-based group, Concerned Women for America (CWA), is calling some Democrat’s filibustering of President Bush’s judicial nominees a blatant act of sexism and racism.

The group cited memos, which they say show that Ted Kennedy (D-MA) and Richard Durbin (D-IL) “conspired with special interests to block Miguel Estrada's confirmation” because “he was a Latino.”

Jan LaRue, CWA’s chief counsel, said that, “The Democrats willingly sacrificed a stellar minority nominee in a blatant attempt to hold on to a segment of their political base."

Historically, the Democrats have held a strong base of support from minority groups. Although Senator Kennedy said that Bush’s nominees would bring America back to the days of “discrimination and prejudice,” CWA said that fear of losing this voter stronghold is what really prompted the filibusters, which are still holding up the judicial appointments.

"Kennedy's pretense as a heroic advocate for the civil rights movement while refusing to allow an up or down vote on Judge Rogers Brown is hypocrisy on steroids," said LaRue.

"Democrats can't stand to lose their traditional hold on the black vote. They're trashing the reputations and distorting the records of excellent nominees and failing miserably to fulfill their constitutional duty in the process. It's also why they're attacking Priscilla Owen…Democrats lost the married women's vote in the last election and they fear losing the rest of female voters in the next, if they allow the president to appoint a woman to the bench."