by Jeremy Leaming
UC Berkeley Law school professor Goodwin Liu, whose nomination to the federal bench was successfully filibustered by Senate Republicans, is receiving a much different reception in California, where his nomination to the state’s Supreme Court is expected to be voted on later today.
The San Jose Mercury News reports that today’s confirmation hearing “appears as if it will be a downright lovefest.” The newspaper notes that the three-member commission, which will vote on Liu’s nomination made by Gov. Jerry Brown earlier this summer, will hear from supporters of the nomination, because “no individual or group” had asked to speak against Liu. The vast majority of letters submitted to the commission favor Liu’s (pictured) nomination. A small number of letters, including one from the right-wing outfit Judicial Watch, argued against confirmation.
Following today’s hearing, 3 p.m., PDT, the three-member commission is expected to vote on confirming the nomination. The hearing will be broadcast live here.
The California Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation also gave Liu, the former chair of the ACS Board of Directors, its highest evaluation, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Alice A. Salvo, chairwoman of the state Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation, wrote, “Professor Liu possesses a brilliant intellect, alone with exceptional gifts for research and writing, which allow him to parse complex and obscure legal doctrines and present them in the form of viable understandable concepts.”
Liu, a son of Taiwanese immigrants, was born in Georgia and grew up in Sacramento. Had Liu been confirmed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, he would have added greatly needed diversity to the Circuit. Republican senators and right-wing activists groups, however, launched a campaign to distort Liu’s academic scholarship and deride his work for public interest groups. Some senators also said they could not get over Liu’s criticism of then-Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito. The New York Times in an editorial blasted the opposition to Liu’s nomination as “laughably thin.”
Following the filibuster of Liu’s nomination to the federal bench, ACS Executive Director Caroline Fredrickson blasted the obstruction as disgraceful. “Of the 160 active judges on the federal appeals court, there is not one active Asian Pacific American judge on the Ninth Circuit,” she said.
Post new comment