WASHINGTON - Attorney Miguel Estrada, whose appointment to a federal appellate court judgeship was blocked by Democrats in a protracted fight with the Bush White House, asked Thursday that he be removed from consideration.
"I write to ask you to withdraw my pending nomination," Estrada said in a letter to President Bush (news - web sites). "I believe that the time has come to return my full attention to the practice of law and to regain the ability to make long-term plans for my family."
Estrada was one of a handful of federal judicial nominees named by Bush who became lightning rods during the Senate confirmation process, where Democrats argued they were too conservative to serve on the nation's second highest court. Republicans countered that the Democrats were biased, noting that Estrada is Hispanic.
The monthslong battle came to head in July when Senate Republicans mounted a weeklong effort to get the nominations through. Democrats successfully filibustered that attempt.
"It's a terrible day for justice in America when a partisan minority of the Senate can obstruct an extremely well-qualified nominee to the federal bench, to the point of forcing Miguel Estrada to withdraw his nomination," said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas.
Sen. George Allen (news, bio, voting record), R-Va., said he hoped Estrada would be renominated in the future. Estrada said in his letter that he hopes to work for the government again sometime in the future.
"I profoundly hope that, at some time in the future, I may be called again to serve my country in some capacity," he said.
The White House had no immediate comment.
Bush aggressively tried to get the Senate to approve Estrada early this year, but has been silent on the issue in recent months.
He staged a series of public events last winter that cast Democratic opposition to Estrada as "purely political" and called Democratic refusal to approve him as a "travesty."
"Your personal involvement on my behalf has been a particular source of pride and comfort to me," Estrada said in the letter to Bush.
The president nominated Estrada to a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington more than two years ago. Senate Republicans were never able to get the necessary 60 votes to end the Democratic filibuster and get his nomination to the Senate floor for a vote.
Estrada was never able to get more than 55 votes from the Senate, which has 51 Republicans, 48 Democrats and one independent.
Estrada is a Honduran immigrant who graduated from Harvard Law School, served in both the administrations of the first President Bush and the Clinton administration. He now practices law in Washington, D.C.
Other Bush judicial nominees to the appeals court who have run into opposition over the last few years include Mississippi jurist Charles Pickering, Texas judge Priscilla Owen and Alabama Attorney General William Pryor.
Republicans sought to make political use of Estrada's Hispanic heritage during the battle for his nomination, an effort that continued even with the withdrawal.
"At root, base politics drove the Democrats' decision to deny the president the chance to someday name the first Hispanic to the Supreme Court. That is what it was all about," said C. Boyden Gray, a former White House legal counsel and now chairman of the Committee for Justice, a conservative organization that worked for Estrada's confirmation.
"They did not oppose Estrada because he was Hispanic. They opposed him because he was President Bush's Hispanic," Gray said.
"I feel symphathy for Miguel Estrada, but we feel we have no regrets about what we've done," said Sen. Charles Schumer (news, bio, voting record), D-N.Y., a strong critic of the nomination. "If the Founding Fathers are looking down on us today, I am confident that they are proud of us for defending the Constitution as we have with this nomination."
Republicans tried seven times to win the 60 votes needed to advance to a final vote on confirmation of Estrada, but Democrats blocked them each time.
In Estrada's case, Democrats said they would not allow a final vote until the Justice Department (news - web sites) released internal memos he had written while serving in the office of the solicitor general in the administration of Bush's father.
Several former solicitors general sided with the administration, Republicans and Democrats alike saying the material was confidential internal working documents.
Democrats had pressed Estrada to make clear his views on abortion rights, but he refused. Past controversial nominees have similarly deflected questions on abortion and capital punishment.
They also said Estrada lacks the judicial experience to serve on that court. Republicans accused Democrats of treating Estrada unfairly because he is a conservative Hispanic.
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