Vote Against Goodwin Liu a Victory for the Rule of Law

Hans von Spakovsky / May 19, 2011

In one of the most important votes on Obama’s lower court judicial nominees, Democrats were unable to overcome the filibuster of Ninth Circuit Court nominee Goodwin Liu in a vote in the U.S. Senate this afternoon.

It takes 60 votes to end a filibuster under the Senate rules, and the final vote was only 52 in favor of cutting off debate, 43 opposed, one senator voting “present” (Sen. Orrin Hatch), and four not voting.  Democrat Ben Nelson of Nebraska crossed party lines to oppose Liu, making it the first successful bipartisan filibuster since Abe Fortas.  (Lisa Murkowski, the former Republican from Alaska who ran as an independent in her reelection bid last November, joined with Democrats in voting in favor of Liu.)

Liu is one the most radical and unqualified judicial nominee in decades.  His views are so extreme, that even Republican members of the “Gang of 14,” who in 2005 said they would not filibuster judicial nominees except in “extraordinary circumstances,” voted to support a filibuster of Liu.  This included Lindsey Graham and John McCain, and even the two Republican senators from Maine — Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins — who are considered by many to be the two most moderate Republicans in the Senate. (more…)