In an op-ed piece for The Washington Post, Thiessen said the Democrats'
plight began 15 years ago when they began "unprecedented filibusters"
against President George W. Bush's appellate court nominee, Miguel
Estrada for the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington in 2001.
"Estrada was a supremely
qualified nominee who had the support of a clear majority in the
Senate," Thiessen said. "His confirmation should have been easy."
"Had
Democrats not tried to block Gorsuch, they would still have the
filibuster," Thiessen continued. "And Republicans, who now have just a
single-vote majority, would have a much more difficult time mustering
the votes to change Senate rules today.,BR>
"But thanks to Democrats' miscalculations, the GOP doesn't have to.
Citing internal strategy memos obtained by The Wall Street Journal,
Thiessen said liberal groups lobbied Democrats to label Estrada's
nomination as "especially dangerous" because "he is Latino, and the
White House seems to be grooming him for a Supreme Court appointment."
"Democrats did not want
Republicans to put the first Hispanic on the Supreme Court," Thiessen
argued. "Instead, two years after his nomination, they made Estrada the
first appeals court nominee in history to be successfully filibustered.
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