Posted on 05/19/2011 12:01:25 PM PDT by jazusamo
Senate Republicans staged the first successful filibuster of a judicial nominee since 2005 on Thursday, dealing a blow to the Obama administration on the long-stalled nomination of Goodwin Liu to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Only one Republican joined Democrats Thursday in supporting Liu, who needed 60 votes to break a filibuster. Meanwhile, 52 Democrats voted ‘yes’ to open debate on the 39-year-old f University of California, Berkeley professor’s nomination. One Democrat voted no. The final vote was 52-43.
The filibuster will be met with disappointment from both progressives and Asian-American groups who advocated for Liu and hoped to see him seated on the Western court that covers a region of the country with a significant Asian-American population. Liu even received the support from some prominent conservative legal figures, including Ken Starr and John Yoo.
Some Democrats fear the blocked nomination will set a new precedent. During the George W. Bush administration, a bipartisan group of 14 senators agreed that they would vote to open debate on every judicial nominee that came through the Senate except for in “extraordinary circumstances.”
“If this is not an extraordinarily well qualified person, I don’t know who will be,” Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said moments before the vote. “I’m afraid the phrase ‘extraordinary circumstances’ will suffer great damage by this action.”
Sen. Lisa Murkowski was the lone Republican to support Liu on Thursday.
“I stated during the Bush Administration that judicial nominations deserved an up or down vote, except in ‘extraordinary circumstances’ and my position has not changed simply because there is a different President making the nominations,” Murkowski said in a statement after the vote.
Other Republicans have maintained Liu’s liberal views on issues like same-sex marriage and affirmative action put him outside of the mainstream, pointing to his writings that additional individual rights can be found in the Constitution. Liu also drew Republican ire over his criticism of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito in testimony when the conservative judge was nominated to the court.
But Senate Republicans were unconvinced of Liu’s independence.
“His outrageous attack on Judge Alito convinced me that Goodwin Liu is an ideologue,” Sen. Lindsey Graham said before Thursday’s vote. “His statement showed he has nothing but disdain for those who disagree with him. Goodwin Liu should run for elected office, not serve as a judge.”
Graham was part of 2005’s bipartisan “Gang of 14” and the South Carolina Republican, along with veteran GOP lawmakers like John McCain, cited that group’s language of “extraordinary circumstances” in explaining their no vote on Thursday.
Earlier this month, eleven Republicans helped break a filibuster on another controversial Obama pick, Jack McConnell, who was appointed to a district court in Rhode Island. Graham and McCain both supported McConnell.
Leading up to the Liu vote, several Republicans including John Cornyn of Texas and Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, noted the significance of a circuit court appointment, drawing a distinction with McConnell’s district court appointment.
“There is some sense that circuit court judges are different than district court judges and so you won’t find those divisions now that we have a circuit court judge, somebody who’s eligible for the Supreme Court,” Cornyn told reporters Wednesday night.
And when explaining his “yes” on McConnell a few weeks ago, but a “no” on Thursday, Alexander — another member of the Gang of 14 — said standard for circuit court nominees requires increased scrutiny.
“District Judges are trial judges,” Alexander said in a floor speech. “Circuit judges also must follow precedent but have broader discretion in interpreting and applying the law. Circuit judges’ jurisdictions are broader. Their attitudes and philosophies are much more consequential in the judicial process.”
Democrats, however, believed there were stronger political reasons for filibustering Liu Thursday: with his academic pedigree and young age he could have been on track for a seat on the Supreme Court.
This is likely the end of Liu’s bid for the spot on the Ninth Circuit. Liu made the rounds on the Hill Wednesday, meeting with senators and administration officials in a last-ditch P.R. effort to salvage his bid.
In one of the most striking floor speeches, Democrat Jim Webb of Virginia laid out his case for why he would not be able to vote to confirm Liu if debate opened on the nominee, though Webb did vote to break the filibuster Thursday.
Webb took issue with some of Liu’s opinions on affirmative action and provided an anecdote about a Virginia businessman who had built a company despite his poor upbringing in the Appalachian regions of the state.
“Intellect in and of itself does not always give a person wisdom, nor does it guarantee good judgment, and the root word of judgment is, of course, judge,” Webb said Wednesday. “And that is our duty today, to decide whether Professor Liu’s almost complete lack of practical legal experience, coupled with his history of intemperate, politically charged statements, allow us a measure of comfort and predictability as to whether he would be fair and balanced while sitting in one of the highest courts in the land.”
We have enough anti-American communist judges already.
The one piece of good news today.
Whoa, you mean Murkowski voted for cloture and Snowe, Collins, McCain and Graham voted against? Maybe the end IS near...
Amen! And this is very good news.
These Democrats are full of it.
As far as “qualifications” and “extraordinary circumstances”, where the heck was Dick Durbin and others when John Kerry tried to mount a filibuster of Judge Alito’s nomination, for example???????
Being bad feels pretty good...
I still can't wrap my brain around what the hell happened to Alaska.........
Yep, Murkowski is just being loyal to her RAT base.
Nelson (Ne) was the one Dem who voted NO..I guess he’s seen some polls back home..hehehe..WHo were the Dems who skipped the vote...are they all up in 2012?
IMO, Ms Murkowski should be voted out of office for her yes vote.....
“Asian-American”?
He’s either an Asian foreign agent, or an American.
The implied plea of victimhood and discrimination for someone claiming to be qualified to hold a seat on the circuit court would be laughable if it were not so pathetic and disingenuous!
Excellent. Liu just got ‘Estradaed’. Take that, Dingy Harry.
I watched it on CSPAN and thought the same thing when they called Nelson’s nay vote. LOL!
No up-or-down votes demanded here.
I hope we have seen the last of this liberal socialist. Trying to appoint him to the most liberal court in the land - the 9th circus! Maybe, Obama has had enough kicks at this pig. He was nominated in 2009, 2010, and now 2011. Enough already.
It's safe to assume that Obama put him up for this job because of his ideological and personal relationships with Big China.
The five not voting.
Present - 1
Hatch (R-UT)
Not Voting - 4
Baucus (D-MT)
Hutchison (R-TX)
Moran (R-KS)
Vitter (R-LA)
A stolen election happened in Alaska
The Kenyan said this yet he opposed Alito.
Screw the marxist bast*rd.
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