Senate Republicans Block Vote on Obama-Appointed Judge
By CARL HULSE
WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans on Thursday blocked a vote on the nomination of Goodwin Liu, a California law professor, to a federal appeals court in the first successful Republican filibuster of one of President Obama’s judicial choices.
With its 52-to-43 vote, the Senate fell eight votes short of the 60 needed to end debate on the nomination of Mr. Liu, a Berkeley School of Law professor who came under fire from Republicans for comments opposing the nomination of Samuel A. Alito Jr. to the Supreme Court as well as a legal philosophy they portrayed as extreme and activist.
The vote came almost exactly six years after a bipartisan group of senators struck an agreement to oppose filibusters against judicial nominees except in extraordinary cases. The action came after Republicans, who were then in the majority and frustrated by Democratic opposition to Bush administration court picks, threatened to change Senate rules to ban such obstruction.
Democrats lauded Mr. Liu’s credentials and accused Republicans of preventing a final vote on his nomination for ideological and political reasons. But Republicans said his writings and testimony showed him to be out of the mainstream.
“This nominee, I believe, represents an extraordinary circumstance,” said Senator Jeff Sessions, Republican of Alabama, about Mr. Liu, nominated to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in San Francisco. “His record reveals that he believes the Constitution is a fluid, evolving document with no fixed meaning.”
On the vote, 49 Democrats, two independents and one Republican, Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, voted to end the filibuster; 42 Republicans and one Democrat, Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska, voted against allowing a final up-or-down vote on Mr. Liu, who was nominated in February 2010.
The vote, coming just weeks after Republicans tried but failed to thwart the confirmation of a district court judge, indicated that Mr. Obama could face a renewed challenge as he tries to fill vacancies on the bench.
Senator Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate, said Republicans were adhering to a strategy of trying to keep key judicial vacancies open as long as possible in the hope that a Republican president would be able to fill them after the 2012 elections.
He said the appeals courts were a particular target “because of the tremendous responsibility and opportunity there is for important and historic decisions.”
“And so Professor Liu has been caught in this maelstrom,” Mr. Durbin said.
Democrats pointed to strong endorsements for Mr. Liu from the American Bar Association and noted legal conservatives, accusing Republicans of keeping a highly qualified man off the bench without justification.
Senator Barbara Boxer, Democrat of California, praised Mr. Liu, 40, as an “extraordinary American” and warned Republicans that Democrats would not forget the treatment of Mr. Liu.
“This is not going to go down easily,” Ms. Boxer said. “I think the ramifications of this filibuster are going to be long and difficult for those who caused this good man to be filibustered.”
With its 52-to-43 vote, the Senate fell eight votes short of the 60 needed to end debate on the nomination of Mr. Liu, a Berkeley School of Law professor who came under fire from Republicans for comments opposing the nomination of Samuel A. Alito Jr. to the Supreme Court as well as a legal philosophy they portrayed as extreme and activist.
The vote came almost exactly six years after a bipartisan group of senators struck an agreement to oppose filibusters against judicial nominees except in extraordinary cases. The action came after Republicans, who were then in the majority and frustrated by Democratic opposition to Bush administration court picks, threatened to change Senate rules to ban such obstruction.
Democrats lauded Mr. Liu’s credentials and accused Republicans of preventing a final vote on his nomination for ideological and political reasons. But Republicans said his writings and testimony showed him to be out of the mainstream.
“This nominee, I believe, represents an extraordinary circumstance,” said Senator Jeff Sessions, Republican of Alabama, about Mr. Liu, nominated to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in San Francisco. “His record reveals that he believes the Constitution is a fluid, evolving document with no fixed meaning.”
On the vote, 49 Democrats, two independents and one Republican, Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, voted to end the filibuster; 42 Republicans and one Democrat, Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska, voted against allowing a final up-or-down vote on Mr. Liu, who was nominated in February 2010.
The vote, coming just weeks after Republicans tried but failed to thwart the confirmation of a district court judge, indicated that Mr. Obama could face a renewed challenge as he tries to fill vacancies on the bench.
Senator Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate, said Republicans were adhering to a strategy of trying to keep key judicial vacancies open as long as possible in the hope that a Republican president would be able to fill them after the 2012 elections.
He said the appeals courts were a particular target “because of the tremendous responsibility and opportunity there is for important and historic decisions.”
“And so Professor Liu has been caught in this maelstrom,” Mr. Durbin said.
Democrats pointed to strong endorsements for Mr. Liu from the American Bar Association and noted legal conservatives, accusing Republicans of keeping a highly qualified man off the bench without justification.
Senator Barbara Boxer, Democrat of California, praised Mr. Liu, 40, as an “extraordinary American” and warned Republicans that Democrats would not forget the treatment of Mr. Liu.
“This is not going to go down easily,” Ms. Boxer said. “I think the ramifications of this filibuster are going to be long and difficult for those who caused this good man to be filibustered.”
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