Brilliant Man

By Semperpapa

I guess it is all relative! The latest Obama nominee for the already Liberal 9th Circuit Court of Appeal is one Goodwin Liu, a 39 years old law professor at the University of California, Berkeley. What makes it relative is that even his critics consider him as “brilliant”. To this simple man, there is nothing brilliant about this guy.

Sure, he’s got degrees and titles and all that good stuff, plus the sob story of being the son of Taiwanese immigrants who barely spoke English. I am impressed!

What does not impress me in the least is the fact that this man is one who believes that the Constitution is a document that a judge can manipulate, that basically the founding document of our Republic is there to be used by judges as they please. According to Liu, the Constitution needs to change with the changing times. Just another of Obama favorite changes, I guess.
He stops short from stating that the US Constitution is a living, breathing document, but attacks the Conservative view that the document should be the literal guiding force. It is such incongruence that makes me extremely nervous about this Obama choice, which appears to be just another taken opportunity to position ultra-Liberal characters in positions of high visibility and power, considering that this “brilliant” man, if confirmed, would be one step away from the Supreme Court.

And one additional element that removes all the warm and fuzzy from me is the fact that Mr. Liu aligned himself with several Progressive organizations of one of which, the American Constitution Society, he is the chairman of the board of directors.

Goodwin Liu argued against Judge Alito’s confirmation in 2006, characterizing some of Alito’s legal opinions as tempered with errors. Justice Alito!

Justice Antonin Scalia’s former clerk and today’s president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center Ed Whelan describes Liu as one who

“...believes that judges have the authority to impose their views…using clever
verbal camouflage to disguise what they are doing...”

If Whelan’s analysis is correct, and many Conservatives in Congress share it, this approach would make Liu a judge that would most definitely use his position on the bench to advance his personal and Obama’s agenda by using trickery in interpreting the Constitution.

So I understand the man is brilliant, and that all those degrees should just humble me into genuflecting to him and Obama, but unfortunately, it would take a lot more than fancy degrees and speeches to bend this stupid American.
Let’s hope the Republicans in the Senate will do what’s best for the country and stop this guy to get into a position from where he can do even more damage.

Just my thoughts.