September 2, 2011 8:42AM # California’s Water-Liu By [Ilya Shapiro](https://www.cato.org/people/ilya-shapiro) --- SHARE Over the last year and a half, I’ve [blogged](https://www.cato.org/if-you-think-obamacare-is-bad/) [many](https://www.cato.org/ramming-through-radical-nominee-takes-back-seat-to-ramming-through-obamacare/) [times](https://www.cato.org/if-you-liked-obamacare-youll-love-goodwin-liu/) [about](https://www.cato.org/update-liu-cloture-fails/) Berkeley law professor Goodwin Liu, the controversial nominee to the [Ninth Circuit](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Court_of_Appeals_for_the_Ninth_Circuit), the federal appellate court with jurisdiction over the western states and territories. [Here’s an op-ed](https://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=11605) I published in the wake of that nomination — which happened to coincide with Obamacare’s enactment. And here’s a taste of what I wrote when Republicans filibustered Liu, which ultimately led him to withdraw: > I’m not going to weigh in here on the issue of whether judicial nominees ought to be filibustered in general … but if ever there were an “extraordinary circumstance” fitting into the [Gang of 14](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gang_of_14) agreement that broke the judicial logjam under President Bush, this is it. > > > As I [blogged](https://www.cato.org/if-you-think-obamacare-is-bad/) [last year](https://www.cato.org/ramming-through-radical-nominee-takes-back-seat-to-ramming-through-obamacare/), Liu is, without exaggeration, the most radical nominee to any position that President Obama has made. He believes in *constitutional* positive rights — not that the welfare state and all its accompanying entitlements (and then some) are a good idea, but that they are *constitutionally required*. Well, today Liu finally [reached the bench](http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-0901-goodwin-liu-20110901,0,2622495.story), being [confirmed to the California Supreme Court](http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2011/09/01/introducing-judge-goodwin-liu/?mod=WSJBlog). This is an unfortunate development for the citizens of California, to be sure, but, as [I tweeted](http://twitter.com/#!/ishapiro/status/109280887866265600) earlier today, at least Liu’s damage will be limited to that irredeemable state. Of course, a state supreme court justice may be an attractive choice for appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court, particularly given that we haven’t had a state jurist appointed since President Reagan tapped Sandra Day O’Connor in 1981. And Liu would be the first Asian-American on the highest court in the land, which could further tempt Barack Obama or a future Democratic president to select him. Such are the stakes for every presidential election until the 40-year-old Liu is deemed too old for elevation. ##### Related Tags [Government and Politics](https://www.cato.org/government-politics), [Health Care](https://www.cato.org/health-care), [Constitutional Law](https://www.cato.org/constitutional-law), [Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies](https://www.cato.org/robert-levy-center-constitutional-studies) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).