WASHINGTON – President Obama nominated University of California Berkeley School of Law Associate Dean and Professor Goodwin H. Liu to serve on the United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit today.  

Professor Liu is a nationally recognized scholar in the areas of education and constitutional law. Before joining UC Berkeley School of Law, Professor Liu was a litigator in private practice. Prior, he was a law clerk to the Honorable David S. Tatel on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the United States Supreme Court, and was Special Assistant to the Deputy Secretary of Education, U.S. Department of Education. He is committed to community service, and his work has been recognized through several awards, including the Pacific Islander, Asian, and Native American Law Students Association Alumni Award (Yale Law School); Asian American Alumni Award (Stanford University); and the Stanford Associates Governors’ Award for Exemplary Volunteer Service.

Professor Liu was born to Taiwanese immigrant parents in Augusta, Georgia.  He grew up in Clewiston, Florida and Sacramento, California. A distinguished graduate of Stanford, Oxford, and Yale Law School, Professor Liu was also a Rhodes Scholar, and is a member of the American Law Institute.

“Professor Liu’s nomination is a positive step to address the glaring absence of Asian Pacific Americans on the appellate level,” said George C. Wu, Executive Director of OCA. “As former law clerk to the Supreme Court and recognized scholar on constitutional law, Professor Liu will bring unsurpassed intellect and fairness to the Ninth Circuit.”

Professor Liu’s appointment to the Ninth Circuit is particularly significant for the Asian Pacific American community. Of the approximately 175 active federal appellate court judges, there are currently none who are Asian Pacific American. If confirmed, he will only be the fifth Asian Pacific American federal appellate court judge in the history of the United States. Along with Denny Chin, nominee to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, he is the second Asian Pacific American nominated to the federal court of appeals by the President.