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.