Debate Heats Up Over 9th Circuit Nominee

It was clear even before he was nominated that Goodwin Liu would stir up activists as few other Obama judicial nominees have. Since he was named on Feb. 24, supporters and opponents both have jumped into vigorous debate over what Liu's jurisprudence would look like if he were confirmed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) has appeared on television to criticize Liu, while former Bush Justice Department official Ed Whelan is churning out National Review blog posts. On the other side, the University of California at Berkeley, where Liu is a law professor and associate dean, is touting letters from those who support Liu because of his academic work and his advocacy for private-school vouchers, often a cause of conservatives.

One of Liu’s students, Berkeley 3L Jonathan Singer, has started a blog to gather material favoring Liu’s nomination. Singer, in an interview, said he wanted to counter conservatives’ attempt to label Liu as a liberal firebrand.

“He needs people who support him to speak up for him,” said Singer, noting the custom for judicial nominees to remain publicly silent except for their appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee. “When people don’t stand up for nominees of this quality, who would add this much to the federal bench, then those nominees won’t be put forward in the future.”

The level of activity is unusual for one of President Barack Obama’s circuit court nominees, though several of President George W. Bush’s nominees caused similar fissures. It reflects in part Liu’s leadership of several liberal legal groups. He is chairman of the American Constitution Society, and from 2005 to 2008 he was on the board of the ACLU of Northern California.

The debate could heat up further with the release of Liu’s answers to a Senate questionnaire, now posted (PDF) online.

Singer, who is taking a constitutional law class with Liu and previously took a class on education policy with him, acknowledged it might be unusual for a student to be so vocal for a current professor. But he said that he hasn’t spoken about it with Liu and that other students have expressed an interest in pitching in. (Singer added that he probably has a closer relationship with his academic adviser, John Yoo, another Berkeley law professor who has been in the news. He’s taken two of Yoo’s classes.) Singer also blogs here.

Among Liu’s other supporters is Clint Bolick, director of the Goldwater Institute in Arizona. Bolick wrote a letter (PDF) to Senate Republicans praising Liu’s “courage and integrity” in supporting vouchers to pay private school tuition.

Potential opposition to Liu is ramping up, too. In an interview last week on Fox News, Sessions, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, made clear that he’s skeptical of the nomination. Liu, he said, “believes the Constitution is something judges can manipulate to have it say what they think culture or evolving standards of decency requires on a given day.”

An editorial in the conservative Washington Times on March 3 called Liu “another radical judicial nominee” whose name Obama should withdraw. The liberal Media Matters for America authored a rebuttal, saying Liu’s views are well-grounded in Supreme Court precedent.

Obama named Liu along with Judge Robert Chatigny, nominated for the 2nd Circuit. Chatigny, now on the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut, will go before the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday for his confirmation hearing. A hearing date for Liu has not been announced.

Comments

[Craig Johnson]

Goodwin Liu is intelligent, competent and will bring an important perspective to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. The book he co-authored on the Constitution is engaging, well-written and lays out a comprehensive, thoughtful approach to Constitutional interpretation.

[Liu-Zer]

Rich Boxer, I completely disagree. Liu is far more extreme than any of Bush's appellate court nominees. He is not liberal; he is a radical. I mean, does even Obama's "leftist base" want a judge who will always take the murderers' side in death penalty cases?

Also, maybe there is precedent for presidents putting academics on the bench, but all the academics I can think of had actual appellate argument experience. I can't think of a single one who didn't. Can you? The only argument Liu has ever had in any court was ONE argument in a pro bono asylum case, which he volunteered for as a junior associate at O'Melveny, and which apparently he lost.

I agree 100% with Blue Stater: This nomination must be withdrawn.

[Rich Boxer]

Besides Gerry Lynch, Liu is the only liberal Obama has nominated. Almost all of his nominees have been centrists. So buck up, Blue Stater, his leftist base is extremely disappointed with his selections so far. It does not even approach the partisanship of Bush's or Reagan's nominations. As for experience, there is ample precedent for presidents putting forth academics. Very few nominees have argued before the Supreme Court at all. It's really not a measure of preparedness.

[Blue Stater]

I have voted for both Democrats and Republicans in the past. I voted for Obama, and for the first time in my life, donated to a presidential campaign. To say I am disappointed in this nomination is the understatement of the year. Liu is the most polarizing, divisive nominee I can recall since Clarence Thomas. It is as if Obama is deliberately sticking a thumb in the eye of all those to whom he promised he would seek consensus and nominate qualified people, instead of young radicals with axes to grind. Liu has a great educational background (as do many other potential candidates), but it stops there. He is inexperienced, having apparently only argued in court a single time (and lost). He espouses views far outside the mainstream, and appears to be as arrogant and demagogic as he is unqualified. This nomination makes me think less of Obama, and I can only hope that the Administration comes to its senses and withdraws the appointment.

[Evan Shirley]

If Goodwin Liu is not qualifed to be appointed to the Ninth Circuit based because, as Republican Senator Jeff Sessions says "Liu believes the Constitution is something judges can manipulate to have it say what they think culture or evolving standards of decency requires on a given day,” then he should call for the resignation or impeachment of Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Allito recently appointed by George W. Bush -- especially in light of their opinions in Citizens United v. FEC.