Confirm Goodwin Liu to the Ninth Circuit

Recipient: Senate Judiciary Committee

The Honorable Patrick Leahy, Chairman
Committee on the Judiciary
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510

The Honorable Jeff Sessions, Ranking Member
Committee on the Judiciary
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Chairman Leahy and Ranking Member Sessions:

On behalf of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, we write to express our strong support for the confirmation of Professor Goodwin Liu to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.  Professor Liu’s stellar background, his intellectual honesty and independence, and his utmost respect for the Constitution and its values all make him an outstanding candidate.  We urge the Senate Judiciary Committee and the full Senate to confirm Professor Liu without delay.

Professor Liu’s credentials are truly outstanding.  The son of Taiwanese immigrants who instilled in him a tremendous commitment to democracy and an abiding love of education, Liu graduated from his high school as a co-valedictorian, graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Stanford University, and subsequently studied in Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar.  At Yale Law School, he distinguished himself by serving as an editor of the Yale Law Journal and through numerous awards for his oral advocacy and writing skills.  Following law school, he served as a law clerk for both Judge David Tatel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court, interrupting his clerkships only for a stint with the U.S. Department of Education in which he worked on policies affecting disadvantaged children. 

In 2003, after several years in private practice with the prominent law firm O’Melveny & Myers, Liu joined the faculty of the University of California, Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall).  Within five years, he earned tenure and was promoted to Associate Dean.  At the same time, he has remained active as a practicing attorney and a policy advisor, and has written extensively on education, constitutional law, and a number of other issues. 

Professor Liu’s writings and other legal work show that he takes a highly thoughtful approach to difficult issues, carefully analyzing all sides of arguments and reaching conclusions based on well-established law rather than political ideology.  He consistently displays the highest level of intellectual honesty, independent thinking, and commitment to fairness – meaning that litigants before him will feel certain, regardless of the outcome, that they were given a fair day in court.  It is no wonder that his nomination has garnered strong support, from across the political and ideological spectrum, among those who know him best.

We hope you will support Professor Liu’s prompt confirmation, and that you will reject the efforts by some ideological extremists to tarnish his outstanding reputation.  Thank you for your consideration.  If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Senior Counsel Rob Randhava at (202) 466-6058.

Sincerely,

Wade Henderson
President and CEO

Nancy Zirkin
Executive Vice President