Goodwin Liu: Faulty memory, expedient metamorphosis; Update: The cut-and-run judicial candidate
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UC Berkeley prof Goodwin Liu is before the Senate Judiciary Committee this morning on his nomination to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. The hearing is streaming live on CSPAN here.
Liu acknowledged his copious sins of omission on his committee questionnaire. “I’m sorry,” he told the panel, but rationalized that they didn’t matter so much because his life’s work has been “an open book” anyway.
Well, it was thanks to conservative blogs and GOP staff that all of the controversial appearance and statements he somehow forgot to include were unearthed.
Democrat Sen. Dianne Feinstein came to Liu’s defense, weakly noting that there have been other nominees who forgot stuff on their questionnaires.
GOP Sen. Jeff Sessions grilled Liu on his unhinged attacks on Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito. Liu ran away from both positions, acknowledging his “high regard” for Roberts’ experience (to which Liu allowed he could not himself compare) and acknowledging that his Alito attack used “perhaps unnecessarily colorful language.”
Ed Whelan at Bench Memos has more on Liu’s expendient metamorphosis (make sure to go to the piece for all the embedded links):
If this Politico op-ed by Eric Liu (no relation to the nominee) is any indication, Liu’s defenders seem more eager to run from the nominee’s views than defend them. Eric Liu obscures from the reader the inconvenient facts that Goodwin Liu has urged judicial invention (usually in an “interstitial” role) of constitutional rights to a broad range of social “welfare” goods, including education, shelter, subsistence, and health care. Evidently adopting the narrowest possible definition of a quota (under which nothing is ever a quota), Eric Liu claims that Goodwin Liu thinks that “quotas are unconstitutional”—and utterly ignores his ardent support for pervasive racial preferences (and his conveniently undisclosed plea for contrary Supreme Court rulings to “be cast into the dustbin of history.”) And he fails to confront the nominee’s actual comments on reparations for slavery…
Sen. Sessions noted the similarity between Eric Holder’s selective amnesia and Liu’s.
Yes, it’s striking.
More from Sen. Sessions:
Judiciary ranking member Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) raised questions about whether Liu was really qualified for the job, pointing out that Liu has “never been in court,” either to argue a case as a trial attorney or decide one as a judge.
Sessions also made clear his belief that Liu’s writings “represent, I think, the very vanguard of what I would call intellectual judicial activism.”
Sessions said Liu and his ilk would look at the Constitution and “find rights there that have never been found before.”
In other words, perfectly qualified to be a Democrat SCOTUS nominee in due time:
Liu himself is seen in some quarters as a potential future candidate for the Supreme Court. The son of Taiwanese immigrants, Liu was a Rhodes Scholar and Supreme Court clerk before assuming his current position at Berkeley. No Asian-American has ever served on the Supreme Court, nor are there any Asian-Americans currently serving as U.S. Circuit Court judges
***
Carrie Severino of the Judicial Crisis Network is providing full, live coverage of the hearing on her Twitter page — and is keeping count of how many times Liu has run away from his published work and positions. She’s up to nine times.
Sen. Kyl asked him about his argument that the Constitution guarantees the right to welfare and tax credits. Carrie reports that Liu admits those are indefensible judicial positions and he would set them aside as a judge.
Liu told Sen. Sessions that his radical views were merely “overly academic language.”
12:28pm Eastern. Liu has now essentially renounced his radical views on racial preferences.
Hysterical: Feinstein tries to help by musing that Liu’s views have been distorted because his academic writing is impenetrable.
More on Liu’s time in the hot seat here.
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Just want the Obamites want.
Could repay the favors of the Dems against qualified Black, female and Hispanic judicial nominees from Bush by filibustering, but either limp noodle Graham or Demonrat mole Snowe would defect.
I hope they go for the filibuster anyway, educate us on the traitors in our party, and then count the gutless Dems that vote for cloture but against Liu’s nomination.
I’d make a better SCOTUS or 9th Circus justice. I’m not a lwayer, been on one civil jury. But I’ve read the Constitution.
Sounds as qualified for the job as Obama was for President.
This guy, Goodwin Liu who has never tried a case, never heard a case, is exactly the lefty re-writer/destroyer of the US Constitution that I/ we FEARED!
STOP THIS WHACKO ‘judge’ from EVER hearing a real case.
He not only wants to legislate from the bench, he actually wants to change the wording in the U.S. Constitution.
Isn’t it easier and far more descriptive to say he is lying? Like all the Obama regime members.
I think I’ve read that book. I don’t like the way it ends! It ends with the destruction of the Constitution, America, and my wallet! Not necessarily in that order!
This guy would turn the US Supreme Court into The View with Goodwin Liu. Remember, the Constitution is an incovenient impediment to the Leftwing Intelligencia.
How’s his olfactory sense? Can he smell new rights from emanations of penumbra? THat seems to be a requirement.
I’m sorry,” he told the panel, but rationalized that they didn’t matter so much because his life’s work has been “an open book” anyway.
If it is an open book then why did you omit answers to questions? Oh wait, he lies and then reacts when others read that open book and find his leftoid leanings. He uses the conveniant I forgot line or the classic LibTard – this was taken out of context line.
The tu quoque defense?
Yeah, THAT works.
A book, it seems, from which he’d just as soon tear out a chapter or two before anyone reads.
He’ll fit in pretty well with the world famous 9th Circus Court of Schmeals…
Liu needs to be stopped here. He can’t get his butt on a Federal bench…not now, not ever.
Write the GOP members on the committee.
Make it clear you expect a solid NO on moving his nomination to a floor vote.
Then, write to your Senator. Make it clear this is critical.
Everything this Administration attempts should be stopped. Your choice: Obama fails or America fails.
Graham is on the committee, right? He’ll get at least one Republican vote.
BTW, Graham still looks like he’ll co-sponsor, with Liebermann and John F-ing Kerry, a Cap-N-Tax bill…
Did he also cheat on his taxes? He’s a shoe-in.
Yo, Di, it’s your brain that is impenetrable.
***
What kind of nominee did you think that Comrade Obama would put forth? A constitutionalist? Or a “let’s interpret this living document” properly to redress past mistakes person?
***
Deja Vu all over again. Stand strong and filibuster him, Senate. Defend America.
***
John Bibb
***
From Severino’s twitter:
Liu is completely untrustworthy. Why have hearings?
The Gutless Old Party will pass on all of the Usurper’s nominees, no matter how radical they are.
If we want to keep the Republic, we need to replace the Republican Party.
Sorry for copying this verbatim but it is just too juicy. Unbelieveable. Most recent comments at the top…
Enough please. Liu is absolutely not qualified. I’d sooner have a mafiosi on the bench than this guy.
From Obama on down they are ALL amateurs.
There have been plenty of stealth liberals who have made it onto the court, Souter, O’Connor etc. Has there ever been a conservative that made it that way or is that technique anathema to conservatives? I wonder…
As the Russians say at the ballet, “Bolshoi.”
What he says now is meaningless. What his past writings and statements are should be the ONLY basis for his vetting. He will say what’s needed for confirmation.
In that respect Liu is no different from a politician seeking office. Examples: Compare the McCain running today with his voting record? Compare the Obama of today with his campaign promises.
Asking Liu questions is pointless.
Stay at Berkeley, pinko bastard.
So his teaching text doesn’t teach? Then it’s of no use.
Totally untruthful and absolutely unqualified for the bench on any court.
We have enough activist whacko judges legislating from the bench right now.
Send him back to the insane asylum at Berkeley.
On the other hand…
But his defenders say the GOP is using a double standard. Indeed, University of Minnesota Law professor Richard Painter, who served as chief White House ethics officer for President Bush, said in a blog post that Liu had provided “a lot more information than many nominees do in response to these questions.” Painter added that law professors often give the same talk many times and that he doubted the Senate would learn anything new from the typically redundant speeches a professor delivers.
The Senate usually gives fairly wide latitude to a Presidents decision to nominate someone. That really only started to break down with the Tower DoD nomination and the Bork nomination.
Republicans still give treat nominees of the Demonrats fairly.
But holy guacamole, this dude is grossly unqualified.
But with Graham and Snowe (not McCain, at least until after the JD primary), and Collins and Voino, Liu will get some Republican votes.
An Asian-American won’t serve on the Supreme Court unless the individual is a flaming, progressive liberal.
Liu also told the panel he would do what he could to earn their trust, in reference to his omitting some 100 documents they had requested earlier.
I would think that to be ANY kind of judge one must be trustworthy to begin with? Am I missing something here?
I was unaware that the standard for judicial excellence was the Weight Test. How many pounds of documentation does it take to be confirmed?
Apparently, Robert Bork was 15 pounds short…..
He’ll be confirmed, no doubt, and he’ll fit in perfectly at the Ninth Circuit – hotbed of judicial activism. His CV is as deficient as the Pretenders is, so what’s the problem? The donks say “he’s qualified!”, so that’s all we need to know.
My cat may actually be more qualified than Liu.
Sgt. Schultz of Hogan’s Heroes “I know nothing”? But Liu is more tragic than amusing. He is one more “person of color”- in his case “Asian-Pacific Islander” playing the race card whining he can’t catch a break in White America. If it is really that bad the lad has my permission to leave. And take Patrick Leahy and Dame Feinstein with you.
Now we see how many of our Republican Senators have any stones: Bork/Thomas. But perhaps if the Senate Republicans confirm Liu the Radicals will love us. The Republicans rolled on Ginsberg and made America safe for Man Boy Sex.
Unqualified, unfit for the Bench at any level and too radical to dispense anything resembling justice in accordance with the Constitution.
Being the most radical guy in the room is no qualification. He tried the old Democrat gaps in the resume trick that Obama pulled on the voters.
Whoops!!!!
A man of rare courage…NOT!
She ought to know, she has used her position on Senate Committees to amass a billion dollar fortune after arriving in the Senate flat broke.
How many more appointees and nominees that have criminal omissions going to be tolerated?
Why do we even bother confirmation hearings?
Sotomayor in confirmation hearing re DC v Heller:
I accepted and applied established Supreme Court precedent that the Supreme Court in its own opinion in Heller acknowledged…
On the Court, Sotomayor concurs in the McDonald dissent:
“Heller was wrongly decided…”
Like Liu isn’t doing the same shuck and jive.
(Oooo, raaaacist)