Folks on the left continue to maintain that the nomination of Miguel Estrada was blocked justifiably because he refused to answer questions posed by Senate Democrats. TAPped, for instance, claims “To have approved a nominee who refused to provide any straight answers on his views about basic questions of law and jurisprudence would have set a bad precedent.” Applied to Estrada, this claim is a canard. As well documented by the White House Counsel’s office in this letter (see, esp. pages 7-15), Estrada was more forthcoming than many prior judicial nominees and answered questions about specific issues to the extent it is approriate for a judicial nominee. To the extent TAPped, Senator Schumer, or anyone else claims otherwise, they are being disingenuous — to say the least.