Senate Republicans have filibustered the nomination of Goodwin Liu to the federal bench. By a 52 to 43 margin, Democrats failed to get the 60 votes required to hold an up-or-down vote. President Obama has twice nominated Liu, a Berkeley law professor, to the court. The first attempt didn’t reach a vote before the end of the previous Congress. Obama wanted Liu to fill a spot on the Ninth Circuit, but the GOP has objected to Liu’s liberal views in writings. It’s a significant milestone because it’s the first successful filibuster of a judicial nominee since 2005, when a bipartisan group reached a deal on nominations after a Republican threat to eliminate the filibuster over Democratic filibusters.
