obama nominates goodwin liu for u.s. court of appeals

Today, President Obama nominated Goodwin Liu for the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Liu currently serves as an Associate Dean and Professor of Law at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law. From the White House Media Affairs Office's press release:

Goodwin Liu: Nominee for the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

Goodwin Hon Liu is an Associate Dean and Professor of Law at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law. An acclaimed scholar, teacher, and lawyer, with experience in both the private and public sectors, Liu is a nationally-recognized expert on constitutional law and education law and policy. In 2009, he received Berkeley's most prestigious teaching award.

Prior to joining the Berkeley faculty in 2003, Liu was an associate at O'Melveny & Myers in Washington, D.C. He clerked for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in the October 2000 Term, and for Judge David S. Tatel on the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit from 1998-1999. Between his clerkships, Liu served as a Special Assistant to the Deputy Secretary at the U.S. Department of Education. He has also worked for the Corporation for National Service, where he helped launch the AmeriCorps program.

Liu was born in Augusta, Georgia, to parents who emigrated from Taiwan, and he grew up in Sacramento where he attended public schools. Liu earned a B.S. from Stanford University in 1991, an M.A from Oxford in 2002 (where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar), and a J.D. from Yale Law School in 1998.

If confirmed by the Seante, Liu would become the sole Asian American sitting as an active judge on the Ninth Circuit -- the largest of the thirteen federal courts of appeals, with jurisdiction over cases from Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington. More here: President Obama Nominates Berkeley Law's Goodwin Liu for U.S. Court of Appeals.