WASHINGTON — A long-simmering fight over appellate court nominee Goodwin Liu will boil over today as the Senate considers the fate of the University of California at Berkeley law professor.
Democrats may be calculating that they’ll win whichever way the Senate moves. If the 40-year-old Liu secures the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster, he’s well on his way to confirmation on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
If he falls short, Democrats can highlight Republican intransigence and spotlight GOP opposition to a highly accomplished Asian-American.
“I think it’s very tight,” California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein said Wednesday. “I think it’s kind of a jump ball.”
With 51 Senate Democrats and two independents who caucus with the Democrats, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada apparently will have to lure at least seven Republicans to overcome the possibility of a filibuster. That’s a high hurdle in the best of times.
Liu, moreover, has incited stiff opposition from GOP lawmakers and conservative interest groups, which have sought to make his nomination the most controversial of the Obama presidency. The odds appear to be tilted against him, so long as Democrats need to clear the 60-vote filibuster level.
“If confirmed, Mr. Liu would advance his progressive philosophy for years to come,” Republican Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa declared Wednesday.
Grassley and other Republicans cite Liu’s lack of judicial experience, his occasionally provocative academic commentary and his sharply worded opposition to conservative Supreme Court nominees.
