The Blog of Legal Times has a post, “Debate Heats Up Over 9th Circuit Nominee,” regarding the debate over President Obama’s nomination of Cal Berkeley law professor Goodwin Liu to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The plentiful links in the post will help bring up to speed anyone who is late to the debate.

Whatever Liu’s jurisprudential philosophy, three things virtually guaranteed controversy over his nomination:  (1) Liu is President Obama’s first nomination to the court; (2) the Ninth Circuit is a lightning rod for criticism from the right side of the political spectrum (more so, I think, than the Fourth Circuit is for the left side of the political spectrum), and (3) did I mention Liu’s a professor at Cal Berkeley?

H/T: How Appealing.