Estrada, M

blog:ESTRADA BLOCKBUSTER EXPOSEWrote Briefs For Florida 2000 Coup; Possible "Elf""American Success Story" Proven A Partisan Ideologue, HackNo Paper Trail? Wrong, MW's! You're Just Lazy; CorruptMiguel

Estrada, White House nominee for the prestigious and influential D.C.

Federal Court of Appeals, helped mastermind the Republican legal

strategy in the 2000 election crisis that led to the notorious Supreme

Court decision in Bush v. Gore, an MWO investigation has revealed.Estrada

may also have been one of the so-called "elves," including among others

his close friend Ann Coulter, who conspired with Kenneth Starr's Office

of Independent Counsel and the Paula Jones legal team to lay the

perjury trap that led to the partisan impeachment of Bill Clinton.Following

the stonewalling lead of the White House, the national media have been

content to report that Estrada has left no paper trail about his

political affiliations and judicial views. Instead, reporters have

pumped up the phony G.O.P. story that Estrada is some kind of

up-by-the-bootstraps American success story.Even those in the

media who have condemned the Estrada nomination, including the editorial

board of the New York Times, have done so because Estrada's record

appears so sketchy. In fact, there is much more to that record than the

Times or anyone else has reported.The evidence shows a pattern of

partisan zealotry and right-wing connections on Estrada's part. It

also conveys the strong impression that Estrada has received his

nomination chiefly because of his legal work on behalf of the Bush

campaign in 2000-- and, quite possibly, because of his involvement in

the right-wing lawyers' conspiracy to bring down Clinton by any means

necessary.After practicing corporate law for three years with the

New York firm of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, Estrada, the son

of a prosperous family from Honduras, was appointed by the George H.W.

Bush administration, first to the U.S. Attorney's Office in New York and

then, in Washington, to the post of Assistant to the Solicitor General.

After leaving government service in 1997, he was recruited to join Ted

"Arkansas Project" Olson's D.C. law firm, Gibson, Dunn, and Crutcher.

There, Estrada worked alongside Olson and such high-profile active

G.O.P. attorneys as Sean Royal and Gene Scalia (son of Supreme Court

Justice Nino Scalia). The firm -- and particularly its appellate

division, which Estrada helps head -- is notorious as, in the words of

American Lawyer magazine, the "rescue squad" for huge corporations hit

with adverse consumer liability and public tort judgments.But its biggest rescue operation was conducted in Florida in 2000 on behalf of George W. Bush.Olson

was, of course, be the chief lawyer for the Bush campaign during the

2000 election dispute, arguing its case before the Supreme Court. In

2001, after revelations about his own efforts to conceal his involvement

in the so-called Arkansas Project, the rabid anti-Clinton effort funded

by Richard Mellon Scaife, Olson was nearly rejected as a nominee for

Solicitor General -- but he squeaked through amid the political chaos

surrounding Senator Jim Jeffords's decision to switch from the

Republican to the Democratic party.What has gone unnoticed until

now in the latest nomination struggle is that Miguel Estrada was a chief

member of the Olson team that devised strategy for Bush v. Gore.

Estrada's key role as a partisan legal strong-puller and sharpshooter

was explained more than a year ago by Susan Beck in The American Lawyer.

But amid the talk about Estrada's meager paper trail, that report has

been buried -- until now.It is one thing for an utterly devoted

right-wing Republican partisan like Ted Olson to serve as Solicitor

General, arguing the Administration's cases before the federal courts.

Bad as it is, that basically involves Olson doing what he has done for

many years -- advocating, from a particular extreme point of view.It

is another thing entirely to place Olson's partisan comrade-in-arms on

the second most important federal court. Federal judges are expected to

be objective and dispassionate, not partisan. They are not supposed to

be advocates; they are supposed to be JUDGES.Yet with the

Estrada nomination, the Bush White House is trying to slip by a

documented advocate and pretend he is qualified to be a judge.At

one level, the nomination appears to be a political payback to Estrada

for services rendered in 2000. Olson has gotten his; so have several

others at Gibson, Dunn; now it's Estrada's turn. At another level, it

is the latest move by the White House to turn the judiciary over to the

most reactionary forces in the legal world, who seek the repeal of

virtually every piece of social and economic legislation enacted since

the advent of the New Deal.And there may be even more to it.

When he is not litigating on behalf of Republican candidates and large

corporations, Estrada is involved in the same right-wing circles

frequented by Olson and his friends, above all in connection of the

Federalist Society in which he is an active member. And there is strong

reason to believe that Estrada's connections are deeper, and more

nefarious, than this.During the partisan drive to oust President

Clinton, a group of right-wing lawyers -- dubbed by one of their number,

Ann Coulter, as the "elves" -- worked day and night to bypass the law

and bring down the president. Aside from Coulter, one of the chief

elves was George Conway, a former associate of Estrada's at Wachtell,

Lipton. Last Friday, Coulter not only acknowledged that she and Estrada

were good friends: she went on to note that, in the past, they have had

contacts, with Estrada giving her ideas, correcting her errors, and

sending her, as she put it, "stuff."In 1998, Estrada was no

longer working for the government. He was a high-profile litigator at

one of the nation's right-wing law firms of choice, headed by Ted Olson,

late of the Arkansas Project. He knew at least two of the "elves," Ann

Coulter and his ex-colleague George Conway.Was Estrada involved

with the "elves" as well, either directly or as a deep-background

supplier of ideas and "stuff"? Ann Coulter knows the answer to that

question, as does George Conway. But they have, highly suspiciously,

clammed up about Estrada, Coulter most visibly on national television.It

would certainly be interesting if the news media, which has fallen down

on the job completely on this important matter, did some digging -- and

asked Coulter and Conway as well as Estrada to come clean about his

possible "elf" services in 1998.But interesting -- and necessary

-- as that investigation is, its results cannot override the plain

evidence about Estrada's partisan involvement in Bush v. Gore. That

evidence alone ought to be sufficient to disqualify him from the federal

bench.If only the news media had done its job, perhaps even this

White House would have thought twice about making this cynical

nomination. But they haven't -- so now it's up to you.URGENT ACTION:Email

Senators Patrick Leahy, John Edwards, and Charles Schumer, bringing to

their attention Miguel Estrada's disqualifying partisan involvement in

Bush v. Gore and his possible involvement with the "elves." Tell them

that one of the architects of the G.O.P.'s legal strategy during the

2000 election dispute has no business being named to a high federal

court. Ask them, urgently, to do everything in their power -- up to and

including a filibuster of the Senate -- to keep this partisan advocate

from being named to the federal bench.Senator LeahySenator EdwardsSenator Schumer<a href="http://archive.democrats.com/view.cfm?id=11854">http://archive.democrats.com/view.cfm?id=11854</a>

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<div>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miguel_Estrada</div><div>
</div><div>Miguel Angel Estrada Castañeda (born September 25, 1961) is an attorney who became embroiled in controversy following his 2001 nomination by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President_of_the_United_States" title="President of the United States" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">President</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_W.Bush" title="George W. Bush" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">George W. Bush</a> to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Court_of_Appeals_for_the_District_of_Columbia_Circuit" title="United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit</a>. Senate <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Party(United_States)" title="Democratic Party (United States)" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Democrats</a>, claiming Estrada was a conservative ideologue with no experience as a judge, and unable to block his nomination in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senate_Judiciary_Committee" title="Senate Judiciary Committee" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Senate Judiciary Committee</a> after the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Party(United_States)" title="Republican Party (United States)" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Republican Party</a> took control of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Senate" title="United States Senate" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Senate</a> in 2002, used a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filibuster#United_States" title="Filibuster" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">filibuster</a> to prevent his nomination from being given a final confirmation vote by the full Senate.<div id="toc" class="toc" style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249); padding: 7px; font-size: 13px; display: table; zoom: 1; color: rgb(37, 37, 37);"><div id="toctitle" style="direction: ltr; text-align: center;"><h2 style="color: black; background-image: none; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border: none; font-size: 13px; display: inline; line-height: 1.3;">Contents</h2>  [<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miguel_Estrada#" class="internal" id="togglelink" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">hide</a>] </div><ul style="line-height: 1.6em; list-style-type: none; margin: 0.3em 0px; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-1" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miguel_Estrada#Background" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">1 Background</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-2" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miguel_Estrada#D.C.Circuit_nomination_by_President_George_W._Bush" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">2 D.C. Circuit nomination by President George W. Bush</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-3" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miguel_Estrada#Current_life" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">3 Current life</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-4" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miguel_Estrada#See_also" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">4 See also</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-5" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miguel_Estrada#References" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">5 References</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-6" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miguel_Estrada#Further_reading" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">6 Further reading</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-7" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miguel_Estrada#External_links" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">7 External links</a></li></ul></div></div><div>
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