Pelavin: "It is a shame that the judicial confirmation process has devolved to the point where a nominee as qualified as Prof. Liu cannot even get a confirmation vote."
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WASHINGTON, D.C., May 26, 2011 -- In response to Professor Goodwin Liu's withdrawal of his nomination to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday, Mark Pelavin, Associate Director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, issued the following statement:
We regret that University of California Berkeley School of Law Associate Dean and Professor Goodwin Liu withdrew his nomination to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday, yet we understand and respect his decision to do so. Prof. Liu was subjected to relentless, false attacks on his character and forced to wait nearly 15 months since his initial nomination, only to be denied the opportunity of a fair up-or-down confirmation vote last week.
It is a shame that the judicial confirmation process has devolved to the point where a nominee as qualified as Prof. Liu cannot even get a confirmation vote. Even worse, Prof. Liu's treatment discourages other highly qualified individuals from accepting judicial nominations at a time when the federal bench has more than 100 current and future vacancies (i.e. seats for which a judge has notified the President that he/she will leave on a specific upcoming date).
We wish Prof. Liu and his family all the best. Once again, we urge President Obama to quickly nominate a new individual to fill this vacancy on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and we call on the Senate to respectfully and swiftly move the nominee through the confirmation process.
