Goodwin Liu’s sins of omissions; Updated
Memories…
Believe it or not, I had a cordial dinner once with Goodwin Liu, years and years ago in Washington, D.C. As far as I could tell, his memory back then was in good working order. But now that the radical left-wing law professor has been nominated to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Liu seems to be suffering from a curious case of selective amnesia.
GOP Sen. Jeff Sessions, Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, blows the whistle on the 117 “extraordinary” omissions from Liu’s required committee questionnaire. (Funny how “forgetful” Obama’s greatest legal minds seem to be.) Liu’s hearing is currently scheduled for April 16. Says Sessions: “At best, this nominee’s extraordinary disregard for the Committee’s constitutional role demonstrates incompetence; at worst, it creates the impression that he knowingly attempted to hide his most controversial work from the Committee. Professor Liu’s unwillingness to take seriously his obligation to complete these basic forms is potentially disqualifying and has placed his nomination in jeopardy.” Big hat tips to Ed Whelan and Verum Serum for unearthing many of these omissions.
Read the full letter here. An excerpt:
A text of the letter follows:
The Honorable Patrick J. Leahy
Chairman, U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee
224 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510Dear Chairman Leahy:
We write regarding the voluminous supplement to Professor Goodwin Liu’s Questionnaire that we received from the Justice Department today. The supplement lists numerous additional items that Professor Liu omitted from the Questionnaire he submitted to the Committee on February 24, 2010. These glaring omissions were provided only after Committee staff continued to locate other additional items not disclosed by the nominee. At best, this nominee’s extraordinary disregard for the Committee’s constitutional role demonstrates incompetence; at worst, it creates the impression that he knowingly attempted to hide his most controversial work from the Committee. Professor Liu’s unwillingness to take seriously his obligation to complete these basic forms is potentially disqualifying and has placed his nomination in jeopardy.
In the weeks since we received Professor Liu’s original Questionnaire, Committee staff has repeatedly discovered missing items, including: (1) Professor Liu’s commencement speech to UC Berkeley Law; (2) his participation in a panel entitled “What the 2008 Election Will Mean for the Supreme Court”; (3) his participation in a presentation entitled “The Fate of Affirmative Action from the O’Connor Court to the Roberts Court”; (4) his participation in an event co-sponsored by La Raza and the Center for Social Justice at Berkeley entitled “Mendez v. Westminster: 1946—A California Look at Brown v. Board of Education”; and (5) his participation in a conference on school funding. In addition, on March 31, it was reported that Professor Liu failed to include his participation in a panel entitled “The Legacy of Brown v. Board of Education” at the American Constitution Society’s (ACS) 2004 national convention. At the time of his participation, Professor Liu was a member of ACS’ board, his academic work focused heavily on Brown, and the panel discussion marked the 50th anniversary of Brown. Moreover, a transcript of the event can be found through an internet search. Nevertheless, Professor Liu failed to identify his participation in and/or provide a transcript of this panel discussion in his Questionnaire.
These are not minor omissions. A cursory glance at the titles of the events that Professor Liu has omitted from his Questionnaire shows that his participation in and comments during each are crucial to this Committee’s review of his nomination. Not only will the Committee require more time to review these new items, but, as we are sure you will agree, the Committee must conduct further research to confirm that there are no other missing items…
***
Update: Liu apologizes for “indavertent” omission after omission after omission.
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What, the Ninth Circuit wasn’t liberal enough already?
This guy needs to be stopped as a judge! Stay strong R’s, stop him. It seems the only people this bho knows seems to a bit ‘out there’ in their views about our Republic.
L
Leftists like Liu believe in an “evolving’ Constitution. So he did not “forget” all his record and the things he said. His memory merely “evolved.”
The understatement of
the milleniumrecorded history.Republicans: We have strong reservations about this nominee, we ah, we, ah…hell, we got nothing! Welcome aboard kid!
Forgetfulness seems to be a prerequisite for Obama nominees.
Are his taxes up to date?
It is the same communicable disease that ran rampant through the Clinton Administration.
What choice did Liu have? Sending the committee a letter describing his desire for reparations was not going to be a ‘resume enhancer’.
This guy is a nut. Where do people come up with crazy beliefs like his?
Did his parents beat him? Not beat him? Molest him? Lock him in a closet? What? How do people like him come to exist? I don’t get it.
If I have to pay reparations to blacks because of slavery 150 years ago, do blacks have to pay me because my home value drops $5,000 everytime a black family moves onto my street?
I’d like to have that explained to me.
Well, it’s not their fault somebody who wants to avoid living in a community with a rising number of blacks in it won’t pay you as much for your house because they think that rise might correlate with a rising crime rate.
That’s completely different than what you did. You are completely at fault people you never knew oppressed people they never knew.
See, you are part of the “white power structure.” You know, the elites who for the last 40 years have been dictating the choosing of blacks and ‘hispanics’ instead of whites and asians for jobs and admission into colleges, and so on, to make up for what you did, you dirty raaaaacist SOB.
You can’t fight the truth, man.
I don’t know how they get like that, but I do know that Obama seems to find them all and bring them on board in his administration. He has a certain “radar” for moonbats and is most comfortable with them surrounding him. I do think this particular nominee is probably toast.
ThunderHawkk said:
I always wonder what the price tag was and is for the so called War on Poverty – between that and reperations, I would call it a wash.
I’m part of the White Power Structure? Oh, yeah, the WPS. I forgot. I have to mail my dues in this week.
Yes, I feel so powerful. That’s why I work 60 hours a week, have a 6-year-old Chevy, and a home that is worth $15,000 less than 2 years ago. I’m the very essense of power.
If I’ve told you once, I’ve told you a 100 Billion times, don’t exaggerate!
You’d call it a wash. They’d call it a good start.
Hang on to your hats, everybody. We haven’t seen anything yet.
Maybe this guy is just the throwaway nominee that the administration can then point to later and say; “See, we don’t get everything we ask for.”
Uh, yeah. Stalin wasn’t exactly an open book either.
I’m confused – are we talking Liu or Obama?
I’d like to see the questionnaire.
Did it specifically ask for these items? Or, did it ask for every transcript of every meeting, or panel, that was attended by the nominee? How many meetings, and/or panels, concerning the Law did Liu attend?
OK, some of the transcripts are available on line. Did Liu know this? Does Liu keep copies of the papers he delivered? (I would think and hope so.)
Yes, Liu should be entirely forthcoming, and at the same time, I would still like to know what the question was that he did not answer.
It was the same question asked 117 times. “Do you believe in the Constitution?”
flaming_o said:
Never thought of it that way – but then I work for a living. I may have to change it to – Hands out- 2, Accomplishing something in life – 0
Liu: “I was FOR the Constitution before I was AGAINST it.”
Reparations are the least of the issues; this man is hard core Maoist, Little Red Book and all. His hatred of all thing West is scary. The Rich White Patriarchy is his enemy. Hopefully Glenn Beck or El Rushbo will pick up on it.
That Bill of Negative Rights thing.
===
Moderation in such times is a suicide pact.
So far all I’ve seen was a list of meetings he attended. Does anyone have any quotes where he bashes the constitution or proclaims his love for Mao?
The good news is the administration might attempt to use this appointment to label Republicans as obstructionist.
Zyzzyg….sorry nice try. Here is the questionnaire as it is currently.
http://judiciary.senate.gov/nominations/111thCongressJudicialNominations/upload/GoodwinLiu-PublicQuestionnaireWithAttachments.pdf
You will note that starting on the 8th page of the pdf, and continuing ad infinitum, it asks for everything he has written, thought about, or spoken on concerning the law. The questionnaire encompasses 486 pages. It is not vague, it neglects nothing.
He obviously was trying to hide his most controversial writings from the committee.
I know you are hoping that the “he was too dumb to answer correctly” defense will work for this loser….but, alas, it does not.
ack! mein boldfacen
Thank God for the Internets.
It worked for Geithner. Just sayin’, y0.
Not what the Obama Administration is thinking at this point.
And why am I talking in bold????????
Font: “I call that bold talk for a one-eyed fat man.”
Ugh….unfortunately you are correct.
Ah, the shouting is back to normal.
Ahhhh…..bold all gone now…..I feel so much thinner!
There is a quote in which he talks about the obligation of white people “to pay reparations”. Liu says he is not sure if ALL white people should pay reparations to ALL black people but he sure thinks that many whites should be required to do so. I wonder if anyone will ask him: “Should Chinese Americans have to pay reparations to black people? If not, why not?”. A second question should be: “Do you think that African Muslims, who sold Africans into slavery and were involved in the slave trade, be forced to pay reparations”? Question 3) Should Barack Obama be entitled to receive reparations? After all, Mr. Obama checked “Black” on his census card. Does that entitle him to reparations?
Question 4. Should Americans of African descent, whose ancestors were never slaves, be entitled to reparations?
The NY Times and pantywaist Frank Rich will cry “racist” if anybody asks these questions.
“… the National Legal Center for the Public Interest, whose mission is to promote (among other things) “free enterprise,” “private ownership of property,” and “limited government.” These are code words for an ideological agenda hostile to environmental, workplace, and consumer protections.” [emphasis mine]
He thinks “free enterprise”, “private ownership of property” and “limited government” are an ideological agenda. Most of us think they are bedrock American. I would submit he’s closer to Mao and Stalin than he is to say, Adams and Jefferson.
My ancestors came here from the Holy Land (Ireland) back in the 1880s. Since this is AFTER the Emancipation Proclamation, do I owe reparations?
Also, since I put down CELT on my census forms, does that mean, as a non-white, I have to pay?
We might have killed an Indian or two……
Did he try and eat your dinner? Most leftists think your food is their food.
And the bad news is, another dishonest arm of the Obama administration is outted for being…well, dishonest.
With so many missing items in his submission, its less “obstructionist” and more of “fill in the blank”.
It’s good to see you’re still blinded to even basic truths, and go immediately for the Republican bashing. So, in kind…
Apparently, liberals don’t know how to do the following, per Liu’s submission:
1. Follow basic instructions on a questionnaire. Children in public schools are capable of such things. Yes, even long ones.
2. Count past anything with a double digit, since there are ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTEEN omitted items. Apparently, for all of his law school -edumakashun-, his liberal professors gave him an excellent course in fuzzy math.
3. Shows blatant disregard for a process to which he should be already familiar within his judicial career. Does he not believe himself to be accountable? Oh…yeah, I guess not.
4. Utilizes Patch’s “5 D’s of Dodgeball” by making claims that he “inadvertently” *and conveniently* “forgot” to place answers in said questionnaire. Did he think the extra lines were just there for show? I’m almost surprised he didn’t doodle on them, or just write “It’s Booosh’s Fault!” a couple of dozen times.
I could keep going, but you get the message. It would be nice if you would at least demonstrate some sort of view that doesn’t cater to your left-leaning Overlords.
To answer your question on reparations, it does not matter if you got here after, or if your family was uninvolved in slavery. You benefitted, you pay…..that is unless you are black. The you receive preferential treatment until the end of time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgR2I3mvz74&feature=player_embedded
Bet he didn’t pick up the check either.
Thanks for the YouTube link.
Stand by for Politically Incorrect Question:
Is it just me, or do all these lefty intellectuals all have high voices?
Except for Ed Asner, every pinko male I’ve ever seen has sounded like they escaped from the Vienna Boy’s Choir. (That’s NOT Vienna, Virginia, either)
What is the correlation between leftism and testosterone deficiency?
My state lost 13,004 dead and fielded more regiments per capita than any state in the Civil War. My great-great-grandfather served in the Union artillery.
We paid in full and then some. Did not even get so much as a thank you. Even the French visit our cemetaries in their country to express their thanks for our sacrifice. Here among the entitled, nothing.
Why can’t nutjobs find some third world country to destroy and leave this one alone?
I have known people that have been barred from law enforcement jobs for lying on the application because they did not list a traffic citation years ago and this guy is still in the running for a Federal Court lifetime appointment?
Bank robbery is now called “inadvertent funds withdrawal” depending on the meaning of “is”. But this man Goodwin Liu is a true believer so he’ll get a bye. And how will Lady Lindsay dance around this, Liu isn’t even a Wise Latina.
(just love to dig on Grahmnesty)
He’ll fit right in with the 9th Circuit Court of Schlemiels.
Based on its contents do you think Obama’s packet would pass msuter to allow him to get a security clearance beyond CONFIDENTIAL? I doubt it.
I think you are being generous with Confedential. With his background I would be surprised if he could get a clearance to guard a porty potty.
He’s going to demilitarize that port a potty and sign an aggreement in Prague that states the U.S. will not use that port a potty even if attacked first. We
no longer have the port a potty as a deterrent! Feel safer now?
But it is not really the porta potty that he is going after it is the American Arrogance that they can dump waste products in there. Therefore when the ban goes into effect he will save or create a green job to clean up the toxic waste within said porta potty which will make not only our economy grow, but will reduce health care costs and the national debt at the same time.
I doubt that was the question, seeing as how the answers being sought are about transcripts.
I have no idea what you mean by ‘nice try’. I asked a question and you provided an answer. Thank you.
Whatever you think it was, or wasn’t, it worked.
Yep, it does ask for a great deal of information. And, four copies of all those documents. Good grief. I would give them one and have them pay for the copies themselves. Setting that aside, that is an incredible amount of documentation. It is a good thing he was never elected to office because he would have to collect every speech from every chicken dinner he ever attended.
No. I am not suggesting that he not be forthcoming. Re-read my comment in post #20.
I am reluctant to assign motive to anyone. You are welcome to do so. I will not make excuses for Liu, he has the reponsibility to respond fully and completely.
Yet, did you see the number of documents he did provide? Quite impressive that he was able to provide as much as he did. Unfortunately, his responses were incomplete.
How on earth would you know what I am hoping for? Well, it is very easy. Ask me a question, as I have done. You provided an excellant link with the answer to my question. I would do the same.
Assigning motive, speculating and guessing about Liu’s intentions, or what I hope for, is less than productive when you can ask a question, have an answer and then have the facts.
Again, thanks for answering my question.
Bank robbery is now called “inadvertent funds withdrawal”
I think you are on to something AZ….
Zyzzgg,
Fair enough. I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions.
That said, having read enough of your responses to various posts on a variety of subjects, it seemed clear to me, given your past leanings, that you were trying to defend what was an obviously indefensible series of ommissions from this candidate, who by anybody’s measurement is extremely liberal.
I will ask you the obvious next question, and I hope you will answer honestly.
Would you give a very Conservative candidate that same benefit of the doubt, if he had omitted information in the manner as Mr. Liu?
My guess is you wouldn’t, but I await your answer.
One thing is for certain in this case and all that will follow, will be Senator Leahy’s ultra loyal support for absolutely anyone Obama nominates. Leahy is a Democrat first, a Vermonter second, and an American Patriot last. We need to retire this man in November.
If he forgot all those things then he probably couldn’t find the court if they did appoint him. Be kind and turn him down now and he has an excuse. Excuse being: Those horrible, violent, racist conservatives held up my appointment depriving the nation of my valuable service. All together now—Amen.
Good Grief Truesoldier you could be a Congressional Speech Writer!
Just call him Goodwin Liar.
Really?
What is with these libs?
Do they really expect us to believe these blatant lies or are they just trying to give the media a way to spin it in a positive light?
Forgetting 3 or 4 items…ok.
117? Not buying it buddy.
And like others here have said, if you’re that “forgetful” that you don’t hand in that many items, are you with it enough to even be in a judge’s seat?
OK, no worries.
This is truly disturbing. My comments are specific to the issues discussed at the time. Your extrapolation is unwarranted and didn’t you just say you shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions?
Did you read and fully understand my comments on this thread? I said in my original post (#20) to this thread, that “Yes, Liu should be entirely forthcoming . . . “ In your post (#27) you did not cut and paste those words, and more importantly you did not agree, or disagree with them. Do you agree that Liu should be entirely forthcoming?
‘Seeming’ and the reality of what was actually said are two entirely different things.
Nope, I was not defending Liu. However I was impressed that he was able to provide the information that he did. And yes, I thanked those who provided the information that I asked for. Was I wrong to thank them?
Absolutely. The volume of information requested and the ability to do so should be respected. If there are gaps and they are acknowledged, that should be remedied. Every one should be forthcoming. I am not against follow-up inquiries.
I am going to be slightly personal, though I am reluctent to do so. I couldn’t be as thorough as is requested by the questionnaire. I would try and would expect follow-up questions. I would respond to those follow-up questions.
Would you be able to be as thorough as the questionnaire requires, and would you address the follow-up questions?
There you go again.
You said you should not have jumped to conclusions, and you are still doing so. Please stop, and ask me questions. I will answer them. You don’t have to guess, speculate, or assign motives to me.
Finally, if you would, cut and paste my entire comment, as I have yours, and address all of what I have said. Agree where you can, and object where you can. I am not above thanking anyone, or agreeing with anyone, but I resent extrapolation and assumption when questions can be asked and answered.
OK, who ordered the Marxist with extra Swiss Cheese?
Oh.
Him.
Gomer Pyle says “Surrprise, surrprise”