On January 1996, President Clinton nominated Judge Richard Paez to be United States Circuit Judge. The Ninth Circuit includes California, Nevada, and Arizona; all of which carry a relatively large percentage of Latinos. Usually after a nomination, there is a vote to confirm or reject the candidate. Yet, the only actions so far on this nomination are votes not to vote on his confirmation. In essence, the U.S. Senate has voted "maybe" for four years.
The story is reminiscent of the delayed confirmation of Judge Christina Snyder. It took one year to get a hearing, then another four months for the final vote. When the final confirmation vote took place, only six senators voted against Judge Snyder. Ninety-three senators approved her nomination. In this case, an invisible triangle of senators delayed the votes because Judge Snyder encouraged lawyers to work pro bono. Several legal organizations celebrate pro bono work as a method to create culturally diverse legal partnerships.
Judge Paez is a very qualified candidate who has the support of his legal peers and is recommended by various prominent legal organizations. He is also active in the community and makes decisions that are applauded by various civil rights groups. However, a senatorial tradition allowing senators to place a "hold" on any nomination keeps Judge Paez from moving forward. In effect, the public service of a very qualified candidate is nullified by invisible and unaccountable motivations. The effort to make the names of the "holding" senators public has also been successfully stalled. This continued last year, even when a judicial emergency was acknowledged by Chief Justice Rehnquist and over 70 (one-tenth) of all judicial seats were empty.
Senator Lott has stated that Judge Paez should not be appointed due to his decisions and "political" affiliations. However, Lott has not allowed a decision to go forward on the nominations of Enrique Moreno, Julio Fuentes or Richard Paez. Senator James Inhofe has said he will oppose all Clinton nominees until Clinton leaves office. Senator Inhofe also submitted a bill S. 1602 last year to close the Naval Station Roosevelt Roads in Puerto Rico if training in Vieques ever ends. His outspoken stances against Latino interests are very concerning.
Some senators have shown a fear that once Clinton nominees are approved, they will be in the running for a future seat on the Supreme Court. Richard Paez was the first Mexican-American to be approved to the judicial seat he holds now, and Latinos wait to see how far another Latino in the world of law can go. How much of a tragedy would it be for the Supreme Court to reflect the population and concerns of U.S. citizens?
The Republican Party is mired in racial and religious turmoil. The party is being chastised for George W. Bush courting the Christian Right while John McCain is attacking them. They have been chastised for honoring Bob Jones University with speeches and special events for several decades. B.J.U. prohibits interracial dating, bans homosexuals, and says that Catholicism is a cult. These controversies make it difficult to hold a vote on a Latino nominee whom they might reject. Meanwhile, Senator Lott made a promise last year to allow a vote on Judge Paez. If the vote does not take place before President Clinton leaves office this year, the nominees will become invalid. Judge Paez could become the first U.S. Circuit Judicial nominee to be held in limbo for 4 years, only to watch his nomination expire. No judge covets an expired nomination as a career milestone.
Advocates for the Paez nomination are asking that the senators live up to their constitutional obligation to reject or confirm the Latino nominees that have been pending during this judicial emergency. It should concern us all when it becomes tradition to delay a vote on the confirmation of women and minorities. Any of these women, Latinos, African-Americans, and Asians could be nominated later for the next available seat on the Supreme Court.
| Don't Miss These Resources |
Warning: include(/home/.meuser/rvazquez/lasculturas.com/inc/bottom.inc) [function.include]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /opt/apps/lasculturas.com/aa/aa030100a.php on line 133
Warning: include() [function.include]: Failed opening '/home/.meuser/rvazquez/lasculturas.com/inc/bottom.inc' for inclusion (include_path='.:/usr/share/php:/usr/share/pear') in /opt/apps/lasculturas.com/aa/aa030100a.php on line 133