Goodwin Liu: Ninth Circuit nomination, 2010–2011

A nomination to a newly created judgeship

President Barack Obama nominated Goodwin Liu to the Ninth Circuit on February 24, 2010, according to Wikipedia's nomination account in its public-service article. The proposed appointment concerned a newly created judgeship. The same account identifies the Court Security Improvement Act of 2007 as creating the seat, with effect on January 21, 2009, as the source records. The seat's creation and the selection of a nominee were different events. Congress created the judicial office; the President then proposed a person for Senate consideration.

This origin distinguished the seat from a vacancy created by a sitting judge's departure. The need to identify a nominee still led into the usual federal appointment framework of presidential selection and Senate consent. The record of the seat explained why an office was available, while the nomination record followed Liu's proposed appointment to it. The judgeships and vacancies guide develops the distinction between the establishment of judicial offices and the process of filling them.

Return, renewed nomination and committee action

Liu's initial nomination expired at the close of the congressional term, and he was nominated again to the same office in the next term, according to Wikipedia’s nomination history. The renewed nomination was not an appointment. It began another period of Senate consideration for the proposed circuit judgeship. The Congressional Research Service's appointment-process overview explains that nominees whose nominations were returned could later be submitted again, making it possible for a nomination history to include repeated submissions without a completed appointment.

On April 7, 2011, the Judiciary Committee reported Liu's nomination to the Senate by a 10–8 vote, according to the public-service account. The reporting action moved the nomination out of the committee stage. It did not supply the full Senate's consent to the judicial appointment. The record therefore needs to follow what happened on the floor after the committee recommendation, rather than treating favorable reporting as confirmation.

The Senate did not close debate

The Senate failed to invoke cloture on Liu's nomination on May 19, 2011, by a 52–43 vote, according to Wikipedia’s account. The motion concerned ending debate so that the nomination could proceed toward a confirmation vote. Wikipedia's explanation of cloture defines it as a process aimed at bringing debate to an end. That procedural purpose explains why the tally should be identified as a cloture result, rather than labeled a Senate vote rejecting Liu's appointment.

The distinction was consequential to the nomination's sequence. A committee recommendation had been made, but the floor process did not produce a confirmation vote. The filibuster and cloture guide explains the rules and precedents governing debate on nominations. For Liu, the relevant account ended with unsuccessful cloture followed by withdrawal. It does not require a conclusion about whether the nominee should have been confirmed or about the reasons individual senators took their positions.

A request to leave consideration and formal withdrawal

Liu told President Obama on May 25, 2011, that he was withdrawing his name from consideration, according to the nomination account. The source distinguishes that communication from the President's later notification to the Senate. A nominee's request concerned continued consideration of the person; a presidential withdrawal ended the formal Senate nomination. The distinction is useful when accounts emphasize the date of the nominee's decision or the date of the official action.

Obama formally notified the Senate of withdrawal on July 29, 2011, according to the public-service account. Wikipedia's table of unsuccessful Obama nominations likewise records July 29, 2011, as the final-action date and withdrawal by the President as the outcome. The table therefore agrees with the formal endpoint described in the individual account. It does not use the earlier date of Liu's communication as the date of the President's withdrawal action.

A later state-court appointment

Liu was nominated to the Supreme Court of California on July 26, 2011, and was sworn in on September 1, 2011, according to Wikipedia’s public-service account. This was a separate appointment to a state court. Its nomination and oath belonged to a different office and process from the proposed federal circuit appointment. The state-court appointment should not be presented as a Senate confirmation of the Ninth Circuit nomination or as completion of that federal nomination's unfinished stages.

Wikipedia's Obama nomination table identifies Jacqueline Nguyen as the person who filled the federal seat, and its account records her confirmation on May 7, 2012, according to the unsuccessful-nominations article. The replacement nomination and appointment were distinct from Liu's withdrawn nomination. The source-recorded result for Liu remained withdrawal of the federal nomination, followed by the separate state-court appointment. The different offices and participants each retained their own public procedural records.

The final outcome

The Barack Obama era overview places Liu's nomination among other selections that ended without confirmation. His sequence illustrates a newly created seat, a renewed nomination, favorable committee reporting, unsuccessful cloture and formal withdrawal. The later California appointment forms part of the public service record but does not alter the federal outcome. Following each action in order allows the nomination to be described accurately without repeating personal assessments, testimony or claims about future judicial decisions.