The decision of the Democratic leadership to filibuster against the nomination of a Hispanic conservative, Miguel Estrada, may prove to be a low watermark in that party’s history. The Democrats have long delayed a floor vote on President Bush’s nominee to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. They have claimed that Mr. Estrada is either not well-qualified, or has not answered questions about his views on specific Supreme Court decisions, or has not turned over enough documents — but the real issues are pure politics. Some, such as Senator Schumer, may have hoped to intimidate the Bush administration into withdrawing the Estrada nomination. But now those who do not cotton to the thought of a conservative minority member on the appellate bench — and in line for the highest bench — will have to stand and be counted. They’ll make the president’s day.

It will only serve to throw into sharper relief the image that the Democratic Party has been cultivating among minorities. That view was summed up well on these pages last month by Herman Badillo. Mr. Badillo wrote: “Nothing makes Democrats more flustered than when a Hispanic or African-American goes off their reservation. Democrats seem intent on corralling the nation’s two largest minority groups into an intellectual ghetto.” And Mr. Badillo would know, having incurred the wrath of liberal establishment groups such as the Puerto Rican Legal Defense Fund in his bout as a Republican. While Mr. Estrada was born in Honduras, he has been attacked as not authentically Hispanic by these same groups — as if race came with a political alignment.

Of course, this is the premise on which the modern Democratic Party is built. Mr. Bush, on the other hand, recognizes that both the African-American and Hispanic communities have developed lively conservative factions. Even if these are not the majority, it does not mean that representation of them is invalid. The Supreme Court is richer — despite the bile of the confirmation process — for Justice Thomas. This nation’s foreign policy is sounder for the able service of Colin Powell and the energy and intelligence of Condoleezza Rice. Such voices will continue to spring up as long as the liberal answers to our nation’s pressing questions of expanding opportunity for all and securing America’s place in the world continue to fail.

On the political question, it seems impossible that the support of the extremists who wish to see the Democrats put the kibosh on the Estrada nomination is worth the credibility the party would lose on matters of race. Further, the hypocrisy is overwhelming. As was pointed out in these columns last week, when the shoe was on the other foot, and President Clinton wished to secure a floor vote for two of his judicial nominees, both the White House chief of staff, John Podesta, and the president himself inveighed against Senate Republicans. Even Mr. Schumer said that the long delays for the nominees made a “mockery of the Constitution.” The decision to reverse the standards now, with a nominee given the highest rating possible by the American Bar Association, suggests an animus deeper than the party can control. Mr. Estrada has been waiting since May 9, 2001, for his vote. A filibuster won’t kill him.