Washington ? Miguel Estrada, whose nomination became a flash point for Democratic opposition to President Bush’s judicial choices, withdrew from consideration for an appeals court seat Thursday after Republicans failed in seven attempts to break a Senate filibuster.

President Bush called Estrada’s treatment “disgraceful.” But Senate Democrats said he was a casualty of the White House’s insistence on stacking federal appeals courts with conservative ideologues.

“This should serve as a wakeup call to the White House that it cannot simply expect the Senate to rubber-stamp judicial nominees,” said Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., one of the leading opponents to Bush’s nominees.

Republicans, however, promised to push forward on other Bush nominees who have been blocked by filibusters.

“Today is a shameful moment in the history of this great institution,” said Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., in a speech on the Senate floor. “The United States Senate has been denied the right to confirm or reject a brilliant and qualified nominee because of the obstruction of a few.”

For Estrada — who at one point was rumored to be a possible Supreme Court nominee — the withdrawal ends a two-year waiting game in which his nomination for the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia never got beyond the Senate floor.

“I believe that the time has come to return my full attention to the practice of law and to regain the ability to make long-term plans for my family,” he said in a letter to Bush.

Estrada, who was in Miami Thursday, told reporters there he had nothing to add to his letter.

Estrada, 41, a private attorney who had never served as a judge, wanted a seat on the D.C. Circuit, which currently is split evenly between Republican and Democratic appointees. The court decides important government cases involving separation of powers, the role of the federal government, the responsibilities of federal officials and the authority of federal agencies.

Democrats argued that Estrada and Bush’s other blocked nominees are too conservative to serve on the U.S. Appeals Court, the regional courts that handle federal court appeals around the nation. They pressed Estrada to make clear his views on issues like abortion rights, but he declined.