Legal News

A First Punch in a Goodwin Liu Confirmation Battle?

By Ashby Jones

When it comes to drama, what does it for you, LBers? A good biopic starring Anthony Hopkins? Watching K-Rod wobble his way through another 9th inning? The season finale of ‘Project Runway’?

For us, little does it like a good old fashioned judicial-confirmation battle, replete with filibuster threats from Senators and heated language (reactionary! judicial activism!) from the Web-based commentariat.

Indeed, we might have one of those brewing over the recent nomination by President Obama of Berkeley law professor Goodwin Liu (pictured) to the Ninth Circuit.

On Friday, Sen. Jeff Session (R-AL), the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, issued a press release indicating he’s not all that psyched about the prospect of a Judge Liu (and a Judge Liu for a long time given Liu’s age — 39).

Wrote Sessions in a press release:

I am very disappointed by President Obama's nomination of Professor Goodwin Liu to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit-already an activist court that has handed down decisions striking "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance and finding Megan's Law to be unconstitutional. I fear that Professor Liu will be an activist judge in this same mold.

Instead of nominating an individual who has demonstrated an impartial commitment to following the Constitution and the rule of law, President Obama has selected someone far outside the mainstream of American jurisprudence. Professor Liu believes that judges should look to "evolving norms and social understandings" in interpreting the Constitution, he has a history of advocating for racial preferences, and he served on the Board of the directors of the ACLU.

Professor Liu's record will be examined carefully and fairly, and I will withhold final judgment until after his hearing. But it seems to me that his judicial philosophy does not respect the American ideal of judges as neutral arbiters of the law. I hope my initial impressions are wrong.

Gotta love how Sessions gets a few shots in at the Ninth Circuit, too. This one just might be fun to watch.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on February 26, 2010 (boomark / email).