Governor Jerry Brown announced Tuesday that he is nominating Berkeley law professor Goodwin Liu to the state’s Supreme Court. Liu must now be approved by the state’s commission on judicial appointments.

This is not Liu’s first judicial nomination. President Barack Obama previously nominated Liu for the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Senate Republicans blocked a vote on the nomination, criticizing Liu’s liberal leanings and lack of practical legal experience. Liu eventually withdrew his candidacy.

Liu, who is also an Associate Dean at U.C. Berkeley School of Law, teaches constitutional law and education policy. Prior to joining the Berkeley faculty in 2003, he clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and for Judge David Tatel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Liu also served as special assistant to the deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Education and as senior program officer for higher education at the Corporation for National Service (AmeriCorps). He is a Yale Law School graduate and a Rhodes Scholar.

If approved for the court, Liu will be the fourth Asian justice currently sitting on the court. He is nominated to replace Associate Justice Carlos Moreno, the court’s only Latino member.

Related Resources:

  • Round 2: The Goodwin Liu Confirmation Slugfest (The Wall Street Journal)
  • California Supreme Court Summaries (FindLaw’s Case Summaries)
  • Conservative Senator to Set Tone for Republicans in Supreme Court Nomination Fight (FindLaw’s Courtside blog)

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