The GOP successfully filibustered (with help from one Democrat, Ben Nelson) law prof Goodwin Liu's nomination to the Ninth Circuit. It's been widely reported that the Obama administration was trying to get Liu some judicial experience so as to continue grooming him to be the first Asian-American nominated to the Supreme Court. It is occasioning a good deal of angst and some hypocrisy among liberal legal circles.
Liu may or may not be qualified to be a judge. My guess is that he probably is. But I'm reminded of the case of Miguel Estrada, who the Democrats blocked from taking a seat on DC Circuit. As Wikipedia notes: "Estrada's was the first filibuster ever to be successfully used against a judicial nominee who had clear support of the majority in the Senate (Fortas only had the support of 45 Senators and ended up resigning his position a year later in disgrace), and the first filibuster of any court of appeals nominee." Why were the Democrats so determined to stop Estrada? Because they thought Bush 43 was grooming him to be the first Hispanic nominee to the SCOTUS.
It's no way to run a railroad, but payback nevertheless is a bitch.
So if Liu's looking for somebody to blame, he ought to start with the list of Democrats who filibustered Estrada.
