Last year, the Committee of 100 issued strong statements in support of two Chinese American judicial nominees for federal judgeships, Edward Chen (U.S. District Court) and Goodwin Liu (U.S. Appeals Court, 9th Circuit). C-100 Chairman John Chen said, “Consistent with its mission of advancing the participation of Chinese Americans in all aspects of public life in the U.S., C-100 supports federal judicial nominations of Chinese Americans when the American Bar Association (ABA) gives the nominee its highest rating.” First nominated by President Obama in 2009, the two nominees were considered among the most controversial of the more than 40 judicial candidates whose nominations cleared the Judiciary Committee but were denied confirmation votes by the full Senate.
Politico reported on January 5 that the President has re-submitted the nominations of Chen and Liu to the Senate, just as Senators Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell have announced a bipartisan commission to examine the problem of delayed executive appointments. No previous president has had so few judicial nominees approved. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts in his annual report in December pointedly criticized the political blocking of judicial nominations.
Both Liu and Chen are Bay Area residents. Liu is Associate Dean and Professor at University of California’s Bolt Law School. He is sometimes mentioned as a potential Supreme Court nominee. Chen is U.S. Magistrate Judge for the Northern District of California.
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