Miguel A. Estrada, a Honduran-born lawyer selected by President Bush to be a judge on a powerful U.S. appellate court gave up his two-year quest to win Senate confirmation in the face of unshakable Democratic opposition to a nomination laden with partisan, ethnic and constitutional overtones.

Bush reluctantly withdrew the nomination to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit after Estrada told him he wanted to move on with his legal career and family life.

In an angry statement released by the White House, the president said Estrada had received “disgraceful treatment” from Democrats who blocked a confirmation vote. He called it “an unfortunate chapter in the Senate’s history.”

Democrats and liberal activists, who portrayed the Washington lawyer as an extreme conservative unwilling to answer basic questions about his judicial philosophy, quietly claimed a significant victory.