Posted on 05/18/2011 3:02:22 PM PDT by jazusamo
(CNSNews.com) – Senator Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.), a senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, dodged a question about the controversial writings of Goodwin Liu, who was nominated by President Barack Obama to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals last year. Feinstein instead said that Liu indicated that he understands the difference between being an advocate and a judge.
To serve on the court, Liu must be confirmed by the Senate. At the Capitol on Wednesday, CNSNews.com asked Sen. Feinstein, “In a 2008 law review article Professor Liu argued that there was a constitutional right to welfare – what he called a ‘judicial recognition of welfare rights’ – do you agree with him that there’s a constitutional right to welfare?”
Feinstein did not directly answer the question, but instead said that Liu had assured her that he knew the difference between being an academic and a judge.
“Here’s how I understand the situation with Professor Liu,” said Feinstein. “He has written that -- that’s true, several things. He has written it from the perspective of a university professor as opposed to a judicial appointment.”
“I think you would find a very different Goodwin Liu as an appellate court judge,” she said.
Liu, a law professor and associate dean of the University of California-Berkeley School of Law, wrote in a 2008 law review article that courts should seek to define “welfare rights,” which he described as “an affirmative constitutional right to particular social goods such as ‘education, shelter, subsistence, health care and the like, or to the money these things cost.’”
In arguing for the judicial establishment of alleged “welfare rights,” Liu rejects any “transcendent moral principles” in favor of “socially situated” ways of thinking, he states in the article. Liu argues that courts should use prevailing social norms instead of consistent moral principles when creating new welfare rights.
“My thesis is that the legitimacy of judicial recognition of welfare rights depends on socially situated modes of reasoning that appeal not to transcendent moral principles for an ideal society, but to the culturally and historically contingent meanings of particular social goods in our own society,” Liu wrote.
CNSNews.com asked Sen. Feinstein whether Liu had repudiated his views on welfare rights in becoming the “very different Goodwin Liu” she had described. Feinstein answered by saying the Liu had made clear he knew the difference between being an academic and a judge.
“He’s [Liu] made a defined indication to me that he understands the difference between an advocate and a [judge],” said Feinstein. “What he’s said is that he would be judicious and I believe he will. I think he’s one of the brightest legal scholars in this country.”
Liu’s nomination to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is scheduled to come before the Senate for a vote on Thursday, May 19.
by Hans A. von Spakovsky & Deborah OMalley
We need to vote patriots into the house, willing to impeach and remove these America-hating Marxists.
Hell, we need an American-style Nuremburg trial to indict and punish traitors and declare the democrat party a seditionist organization.
Communist Obama nominates communist Liu to appeals court. All O’s nominations should be blocked, by filibuster if necessary. He will pollute the courts for years to come if not stopped.
Liu is merely another Marxist who needs a cell, not an office.
Feinstein instead said that Liu indicated that he understands the difference between being an advocate and a judge.
He does but he doesn’t care. Scum
excerpt:
"Curt Levey, of the conservative Committee for Justice, said some of those 11 Republicans, including three New England moderates, are unlikely to filibuster Liu. But Levey said he’s focused on persuading others in that group that Liu is an extraordinary case, especially because Liu would sit on an appellate court.
“I think we will probably prevail,” Levey said. “I think it will be close, but I think we will prevail.”
Who let them dodge the question? Time for some journeis to have balls. Get Sarah or Michele on the trail. The job will get done.
Yeah, sure. If he thinks there is a right to welfare as an academic, and even thinks in terms of “positive rights” then he will believe the same as a Judge.
Who does Sen. Fineswine think she is fooling?
Bump.
Feinstein is so full of crap that it is coming out her ears. It is painful living in California. The climate is excellent. On the other hane, the elected officials, Boxer, Feinstein, Brown, etc. are pure garbage.
The list, ping
Let me know if you would like to be on or off the ping list
Liu will fit in well in the 9th.
McCain To Seek To Filibuster Obama Nominee Who Says Constitution Grants Right to Welfare
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