GOP Complains Before Sotomayor Vote

Item: Senate vote on Sotomayor scheduled for this afternoon: The Supreme Court nominee appears on track to receive as many as 67 votes. Republicans use the debate to complain about the treatment of Miguel Estrada, a Bush judicial nominee rejected in 2003 /Los Angeles Times.

More Info: Estrada was filibustered in 2003 by Democrats who feared he was too conservative. It marked the first time a filibuster had been used against an appeals court nominee. A high-powered private attorney in Washington, D.C., Estrada ultimately dropped out of the process, and the experience left a bitter taste with many Senate Republicans. Had Estrada been confirmed to the appeals court, it’s possible he would have been tapped by President Bush for the open Supreme Court slot that went to Samuel A. Alito. Many said during Sotomayor’s confirmation hearings that the Honduran-born Estrada should have been the Supreme Court’s first Hispanic nominee.

Question: Do Republicans have a legitimate complaint on the brink of Sonia Sotomayor’s confirmation re: the treatment of the 2001 Appeals Court nomination of Latino Miguel Estrada by Senate Democrats.