Truth Bombs

Goodwin Liu, a Berkley Law professor who boasts a unanimous rating of “well-qualified” from the American Bar Association, was recently nominated for a seat on the Federal 9th Circuit Court of Appeals by President Obama.

At Liu’s confirmation hearing on Friday, April 17, Republicans serving on the Senate Judiciary Committee needled the former Rhodes Scholar with inquisitions and accusations about minor omissions on the requisite questionnaire completed by court nominees, his stances on race relations and the death penalty and, a favored bogeyman of Republican lawmakers, judicial activism.

Many GOP senators, particularly Republican Whip Jon Kyl, hailing from the tolerant, welcoming mesas of Arizona (America’s foremost hellhole!) took unseemly relish in dissecting the impassioned rhetoric Liu employed when testifying against George W. Bush appointee Samuel Alito in 2005.

Kyl questioned Liu’s criticisms of Alito, musing “I see it [the testimony] as very vicious and emotionally and racially charged.” For the record, the oppositional tack and emotional charge of Liu’s testimony mostly stemmed from utterly reasonable legal disagreements about the death penalty and an appeals ruling wherein Alito ruled in favor of a prosecutor who had discharged every African-American member from a jury, on the grounds that Alito found no racial prejudice in their dismissal.

Liu quickly capitulated in an attempt to backpedal his excoriation of Alito, conceding that his attack contained “perhaps unnecessarily colorful language.” I understand that folding to committee scrutiny is a time-honored tradition for nominees at their confirmation hearings, but I think it’s a shame Liu didn’t stand up for his beliefs.

Why is conviction always such a political liability for progressives and a boon to conservatives? Though I believe the right’s characterization of Liu as a radical liberal and judicial activist is inaccurate, I also believe that liberals are just as entitled to wing-nuttery as conservatives.

The Senate Judiciary Committee, where Democrats hold a 12-7 majority, will likely approve Goodwin Liu to the appellate court, but Senator Jeff Sessions has promised to filibuster the nomination at the senate confirmation hearing.

This latest objection is symbolic and symptomatic of the GOP’s tireless efforts to stymy any meaningful legislation or action from the majority party. The filibuster has been invoked so often by Republican lawmakers since Obama’s inauguration that the tactic has become a cornerstone of their political strategy. It’s obstructionism for its own sake.

Republicans are like colicky children becoming aware of the destructive power of each tantrum. Democratic leadership  has become anindulgent parent whose reaction only amplifies the tenor of partisan whining.

Democrats need to ignore the cries of their opponents and let them filibuster until they can act like big boys and girls and debate with the grown-ups.