ken starr's office of independent counsel and the bush white house. when the a.b.a. conducted its reviews, many troubling reports were received. but i voted for cloture, as did my colleagues on this side, and he was confirmed. professors are hardly a new game for us when it comes to judicial nominees. john rogers is a judge on the united states court of appeals for the sixth circuit. at the time that president bush nominated himself, he had only four years of practice experience, no appellate clerkships, and has spent the remainder. his career as a professor. he was confirmed by the senate by a voice vote.

ken starr i think summed that up fairly well. in march -- in a march 19, 2010, letter to the senate judiciary committee, mr. starr joined with another professor stated -- and i'm going to quote again -- "goodwin is a person of great intellect, accomplishment and integrity and he is exceptionally well qualified to serve on the court of appeals. what we wish to highlight beyond his obvious intellect and legal talents is his independence and openness to diverse viewpoints as well as his ability to follow the facts and the law to their logical conclusion. these are qualities we expect in a judge, and goodwin clearly possesses them. a judge takes an oath to uphold and defend the constitution. and in the case of a circuit judge, fidelity to the law entails adherence to supreme court precedent and adherence to circuit precedent as well. goodwin knows the difference between what the law is and what he might wish it to be. and he's fully capable and unafraid of discharging the duty to say what the law is." end quote. mr. president, that is

ken starr i think summed that up fairly well. in march -- in a march 19, 2010, letter to the senate judiciary committee, mr. starr joined with another professor stated -- and i'm going to quote again -- "goodwin is a person of great intellect, accomplishment and integrity and he is exceptionally well qualified to serve on the court of appeals. what we wish to highlight beyond his obvious intellect and legal talents is his independence and openness to diverse viewpoints as well as his ability to follow the facts and the law to their logical conclusion. these are qualities we expect in a judge, and goodwin clearly possesses them. a judge takes an oath to uphold and defend the constitution. and in the case of a circuit judge, fidelity to the law entails adherence to supreme court precedent and adherence to circuit precedent as well. goodwin knows the difference between what the law is and what he might wish it to be. and he's fully capable and unafraid of discharging the duty to say what the law is." end quote. mr. president, that i

a lot of people have mentioned ken starrs letter supporting your nomination. and i will get to that in a moment. but the one that caught my eye is a lengthy blog post from the university of minnesota professor, richard painter. this guy is a great law professor, and he's a liberal. he worked to support the confirmations of john roberts and samuel ledo and served as george w. bush's ethics officer. anyone who has a doubt about your nomination should read this article. madam chair, with your permission, i ask that article be entered into the record. i would ask that professor richard painter's blog post today be entered into the record. >> so ordered. >> thank you, and let me read one thing, liu's opponents have sought to demonize him as a radical and extremist or worse. but for those who have read his writings it's clear that characteristic and hyperbole, reveal little about this qualified, measured and mainstream nominee. and i want everyone to think about that. this is a guy that participated in samuel aledo's and chief justice roberts nomination for the bush

i know it's been quoted before but it speaks volumes by the comments of former judge ken starr, former dean also, who said that goodwin liu is -- and i quote -- "a person of great intellect, accomplishment and integrity and he is extremely well qualified to serve on the court of appeals." madam president, i know that many of my colleagues have concerns about this nomination, about things professor liu has either written or said, and i understand those. i have some of those concerns. i read the statement that he made about judge alito. it has the ring of a passionate litigator making an argument with probably more zeal than he himself appreciates as he looked at it in the aftermath. but for those who have concerns, i urge my colleagues to vote accordingly on an up-or-down vote not to sustain this filibuster and, therefore, prevent an up-or-down vote on this nomination. madam president, i always felt that in our advice and consent rule, and this is my own personal reading of it, the president, by his election, earns the right to make these nominations. we don't have to decide in confirmi

from some of the most conservative legal minds in the country and i want to share with you what ken starr -- kenneth starr who we all know, the special counsel on the whitewater matter considered at that time quite partisan, one of the -- one of the conservative, i think -- i want to say stars of their thought. he said, "in our view" -- and he writes this with professor amar and this was published. "in our view the traits that should weigh most heavily in the evaluation of an extraordinary qualified nominee such as goodwin are professional integrity and the ability to discharge faithfully an abiding duty to follow the law. because goodwin possesses those qualities to the highest degree, we are confident that he will serve on the court of appeals not only fairly and competently, but with great distinction. we support and urge his speedy confirmation." this is kenneth starr. so i say to my republican conservative friends, before you come here and start attacking goodwin liu for things he has never done, read what some of our conservative leaders in the legal profession are saying. today, ju

ken starr, infamous as far as democrats go, the former white house special prosecutor, called liu, who served in the clinton administration -- quote -- "a person of great intellect, accomplishment and integrity." former republican congressman bob barr, an extremely conservative former federal prosecutor, also reviewed liu's writings. he came away impressed with, as he said -- quote -- "his commitment to the constitution and to a fair criminal justice system." one of president bush's former white house lawyers said liu's views -- quote -- "fall well within the legal mainstream." i could go on with more quotes from legislators along the right, left and independents but you get the picture. right, left, center -- they think very highly of this good man. everyone agrees that goodwin liu's nomination is far from the extraordinary circumstance that would warrant a filibuster. the only extraordinary things about liu are his experience, his accomplishments, and his integrity. he should be confirmed. at the very least, he should undoubtedly deserve an up-or-down vote. senate republicans have al

i know it's been quoted before but it speaks volumes by the comments of former judge ken starr, former dean also, who said that goodwin liu is -- and i quote -- "a person of great intellect, accomplishment and integrity and he is extremely well qualified to serve on the court of appeals." madam president, i know that many of my colleagues have concerns about this nomination, about things professor liu has either written or said, and i understand those. i have some of those concerns. i read the statement that he made about judge alito. it has the ring of a passionate litigator making an argument with probably more zeal than he himself appreciates as he looked at it in the aftermath. but for those who have concerns, i urge my colleagues to vote accordingly on an up-or-down vote not to sustain this filibuster and, therefore, prevent an up-or-down vote on this nomination. madam president, i always felt that in our advice and consent rule, and this is my own personal reading of it, the president, by his election, earns the right to make these nominations. we don't have to decide in confirmi

effect ken starr and akhil amar wrote in a quote in our view the trade issue weigh heavily in a evaluation of extraordinary qualified nominees which isly gd plan or professional integrity and the ability to discharge faithfully and abiding duty to follow the law because goodwin possesses these qualities to the highestal degree. they wrote we are confident he willer serve on the court of appeals not only fairly and c confidently but with great distinction. we support and urge his. >> he confirmation, and that quote. we are not going to meet their wishes with a. >> he confirmation. the question is whether or not 60 senators will decide today that professor goodwin liu is entitled to a vote, a vote, an up-or-down vote in the united states senate. in professor liu said in his confirmation hearing the role of the judges to be a partial objective and neutral arbiter oo specific cases and controversy c that come before it.on c the way that process works is w through absolute fidelity to the applicable precedence of ther language of the law and statutes or regulations that are issued in this case.