During his days as a Stanford undergraduate, Goodwin Liu ’91 made a lasting impression on those who worked with him in the biological sciences department at the Haas Center for Public Service and in the campus community at large.
Now Liu, 39, is President Obama’s nominee to the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, and some of those who knew him at Stanford are hardly surprised.
Liu is currently a professor at the UC-Berkeley Boalt Hall School of Law.
J. Myron Atkin, a professor emeritus in the Stanford School of Education, advised Liu on his undergraduate honors thesis, a study on the tensions in education policy associated with state-level decision-making versus local policy implementation, and said he always knew Liu would do well after school.
Twenty years ago, Atkin wrote a letter on Liu’s behalf praising his “quick, insightful and analytic” mind as well as the obligation he felt, even as an undergraduate, to put his intellect and leadership to use in working for “a gentler world.” Atkin said he feels those words still reflect the Goodwin Liu he knows today.
Liu began his career at Stanford as a biological sciences major determined to go to medical school and become a doctor. However, his work on education policy at the Haas Center for Public Service motivated him to reconsider this decision and look instead at a career in law.
Atkin said he recalled Liu being torn between the two career paths — though former Haas Center Director Catherine Milton, who worked extensively with Liu, told the Daily that “he always had time to talk and never seemed stressed out.”
At Haas, Liu led the “You Can Make A Difference” Conference on Education, which aimed to educate students, faculty and community members about key education policy issues and ways to improve basic public education.
“He understood that quality education is key to a healthy democracy and seemed motivated to do what he could to help our system,” Milton wrote in an e-mail to The Daily. Liu also worked with Milton in the early start-up of AmeriCorps.
While at Stanford, Liu was also elected to ASSU office. He was appointed to the Stanford Board of Trustees in 2008.
After graduating from Stanford, Liu won a Rhodes Scholarship and earned a master’s degree in the Philosophy, Psychology and Physiology Program at Oxford University in 1993, then a law degree from Yale in 1998. Liu clerked for Judge David Tatel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit from 1998 to 1999, as well as for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg during the October 2000 term.
Over the course of his legal career, Liu has become heavily involved with progressive legal groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy, and Chinese for Affirmative Action.
In 2009 Liu co-authored a book called “Keeping Faith with the Constitution,” which argues that the Constitution must be allowed to adapt to changes in global policy and events.
The book now has many of his opponents arguing that his views are too leftist for him to be an appropriate candidate for such a high-ranking position.
On Tuesday, 42 of California’s 58 county district attorneys sent a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee opposing Liu’s nomination, citing a 2005 paper Liu co-authored that criticized Samuel Alito’s death penalty decisions, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
Although it seems Liu will not have an easy road to the Ninth Circuit bench, those who know him are fairly confident that he will do well in the confirmation process.
“I think he’s likely to handle himself very well under tough questioning,” Atkin said. “The Republicans think he’s way too far to the left, but he’s not a central control guy at all — he’s very appreciative of local prerogatives.”
“He does have the right ‘judicial’ temperament,” Milton said, “so this seems like a good way for him to use his talents.”