Senate Republicans filibuster Goodwin Liu

Forty-two Republican Senators and one Democrat yesterday voted to filibuster Goodwin Liu, President Obama’s nominee to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.  Liu is the first of Obama’s nominees to lose a Senate vote.  Liu, a professor and associate dean at the Univ. of California at Berkeley’s law school, was nominated last year.  Only 52 Senators voted to end debate on Liu; he needed 60. Sen. Lindsey Graham (Rep. S.C.) cited Liu’s testimony against the nomination of Justice Alito to the U.S. Supreme Court, saying his “statements given to the Judiciary Committee were designed to inflame passion against Judge Alito.”