Litigation

Fireworks at Hearing on Appellate Nominee?

By Peter Hardin

Look out for fireworks when the Senate Judiciary Committee holds a hearing Wednesday on the nomination of Goodwin Liu–who teaches constitutional law at the University of California at Berkeley–for the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Liu advocates for liberal causes, opposed the nomination of Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. and was blasted by Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., for views “far outside the mainstream of American jurisprudence,” according to a Washington Post article. His nomination has pumped up activists on the left and drawn outrage on the right.

This is a nomination to watch, the Post suggested, and it could unfold as a test case:

“His hearing and the battle over his nomination could tell much about the Obama administration’s willingness to appoint controversial nominees to the bench, including the Supreme Court.”

A San Francisco Chronicle editorial called him “anything but doctrinaire.” Liu “will be a target” in the confirmation process, it added, and has been discussed as a potential Supreme Court nominee in the future.

Liu was a Rhodes Scholar and clerked for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. He is the son of Taiwanese immigrants, and the federal appeals courts have no Asian-American judges now. Liu is 39 and does not have judicial experience. You can learn more about his nomination from Gavel Grab.

Elsewhere on the nominations beat, two publications offered a “short list” of candidates for the Supreme Court if Justice John Paul Stevens decides later this year to retire.

The National Law Journal reported that the White House is ready to move fast if a vacancy is created, and listed these possible choices: U.S. Solicitor General Elena Kagan, appeals court Judges Diane Wood and Merrick Garland, and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. A similar list was offered by the Los Angeles Times, which reported that Justice Stevens is expected to retire this summer, bringing about a generational transition on the high court.

Full post as published by The Gavel on March 22, 2010 (boomark / email).