U.S. Court of Appeals for Ninth Circuit

by Nicole Flatow

The Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday approved the nomination of law firm partner Paul Watford [pictured] to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, a circuit that is now handling double the caseload of other federal circuit courts. But not a single Republican voted to send Watford’s nomination to the Senate floor.

The 10-6 party-line vote (with two Republicans voting “present”) seems to signal an about-face from the broad bipartisan support Watford received when he was nominated in October.

"[E]veryone who knows Paul (whether they are conservative or liberal, or somewhere in between) recognizes that he possesses the qualities that are most needed in an appellate judge,” said Jeremy Rosen, former president of the Los Angeles Lawyers Chapter of the Federalist Society, in a letter to senators calling the nomination of Watford a “home run.”

“Paul is the sort of Democratic nominee that moderates and conservatives, as well as liberals, should solidly support,” said Eugene Volokh, a blogger for the conservative blog, The Volokh Conspiracy.

Others who voiced their support included David Collins, a colleague of Watford’s at Munger, Tolles & Olson who was a lawyer for both Bush administrations and clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, and Orin Kerr, a professor at George Washington University and fellow blogger for The Volokh Conspiracy.

Yet, in a statement opposing Watford’s nomination yesterday, ranking Judiciary Committee Republican Charles Grassley urged his fellow senators to vote against Watford because of “substantive concerns” about his work on immigration and death penalty cases.

by Jeremy Leaming

Peddling rightwing attacks on federal appeals court nominee Goodwin Liu, Republican senators today blocked the noted constitutional law professor’s nomination to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The cloture motion, which needs 60 votes to pass, failed on a 52 to 43 vote, thereby preventing an up-or-down vote on the nomination. (Roll Call Vote is available here.)

ACS Executive Director Caroline Fredrickson scored Republicans for their delaying tactics, saying “Those senators who voted against cloture are ushering in an era of unprecedented obstructionism, and threaten to bring our system of justice to a grinding halt.”

ACS Board Chair Geoffrey R. Stone also weighed in, saying “Since President Obama took office, some Republican senators have made an art of delaying votes on qualified nominees who have broad bipartisan support, thus threatening the capacity and integrity of our system of justice.” 

Their entire comments are available here.

A stream of Republicans took to the Senate floor this afternoon, and proceeded to tar Liu as an ideologue with an extreme judicial philosophy unfit for an appointment to the federal bench. Other Republicans said Liu did not have the adequate discretion to serve as a life-tenured judge, citing some of Liu’s statements in opposition to Samuel Alito’s nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Democrats, such as Sen. Dick Durbin, blasted Republicans’ obstructionism, saying it was intended to keep as many federal court seats open in hopes that a Republican captures the White House in 2012.

Sen. Christopher Coons of Delaware said in support of allowing a vote on the nomination:

The notion that, somehow, Professor Liu is an ideologue on these issues is belied by his actual record. As a scholar, Professor Liu has supported market-based reforms to promote schoolhouse diversity, reforms that are often labeled conservative.

Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, in his floor statement, noted that “for the sixth time since President Obama took office 28 months ago we have had to seek cloture to overcome a Republican filibuster of one President Obama’s judicial nominations. Regrettably, the Republican filibuster of Professor Liu’s nomination continues the pattern they set as soon as President Obama took office. This is a far cry from when Republican Senators were insisting just a few years ago that such filibusters of judicial nominees were unconstitutional.”

Texas Sen. John Cornyn blamed Democrats for the filibuster of Liu’s nomination, and TPM reports on Cornyn’s wobbly reasoning here.

Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid, who filed the motion to force Republicans to explain their pattern of obstructing the president’s judicial selections, noted a string of statements from Republican senators espousing the need for up-or-down votes on judicial nominations, albeit many of those comments came when the White House was controlled by a Republican.

Sen. Barbara Boxer, a staunch supporter of Liu, blasted Republicans’ tactics calling the situation “an outrage.”

“It is a sad day for our country,” Boxer continued, “when we reject a brilliant young scholar who would have been the only Asian-American serving on the Ninth Circuit, which is home to more than 40 percent of our nation’s Asian American population.”

To get the latest on the efforts to fill federal court vacancies, visit JudicialNominations.org.