Pro-Choice Nominee Goodwin Liu Faces Strong Opposition

Kristin Koch is the Deputy Director of Communications for Online Advocacy Strategies for NARAL Pro-Choice America.

Anti-choice senators are closing ranks against Goodwin Liu, one of President Obama's progressive nominees to the federal courts who supports our constitutional right to privacy.

It probably shouldn't come as any surprise that Sens. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) are leading the charge. They're lobbing nasty attacks to smear Prof. Liu's reputation and distort his record. Sen. Hatch called Liu "the most controversial nominee of President Obama." Sen. Sessions even threatened, "We'll not confirm somebody like that."

So who is Goodwin Liu, and why are Sessions and Hatch so upset?

• Goodwin Liu is a professor at the University of California Berkeley School of Law.
• He has a distinguished record of working to protect civil rights.
• Prof. Liu received a "well-qualified" rating from the American Bar Association.
• Prof. Liu criticized John Roberts' record when President Bush nominated him to the position of chief justice in 2005. He wrote:

"What we already know from Roberts's record is cause for concern. His legal career is studded with activities unfriendly to civil rights, abortion rights, and the environment."

When President Bush nominated Roberts for the Supreme Court, we opposed his nomination because of Roberts' record of hostility to women's rights. Within two years, Roberts led the court in upholding the Bush Federal Abortion Ban - which banned a safe abortion method without any requirement to protect women's health. Sounds to me like Prof. Liu's warning was right on the money.

We need more judges like Prof. Liu on the federal bench if we're going to protect Roe v. Wade and the right to privacy for future generations. We are proud to join with the National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum in supporting Prof. Liu.

Help us make it happen: Getting him confirmed is going to take everything we've got. Call on your senators to confirm Prof. Liu.