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UC Berkeley Law Professor Goodwin Liu was nominated to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco by President Barack Obama Feb. 24. 

Liu, who will serve as a judge on the Appeals Court, is an expert on constitutional law, education policy, civil rights, and the Supreme Court. 

The son of Taiwanese immigrants, Liu will become the Ninth Circuit’s only active Asian American judge if his nomination gets confirmed. 

He joined the Berkeley Law faculty in 2003 and was promoted to Associate Dean in 2008. Liu said he is “very humbled” by the nomination and thanked Obama and California Senators Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer “for their support and confidence in me.” 

He is the recipient of the Education Law Association’s Steven S. Goldberg Award for Distinguished Scholarship in 2007 and UC Berkeley’s Distinguished Teaching Award in 2009—the university’s highest teaching honor. 

Berkeley Law Dean Christopher Edley, Jr. described Li as “one of the most capable colleagues I’ve had in my three decades in academia.” Liu’s “ability to analyze, communicate, and inspire will make him a favorite among litigants and a leader among judges,” Edley said. 

Before joining Berkeley Law, Liu worked as an associate at O’Melveny & Myers in Washington, D.C. and clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge David S. Tatel. 

He has also served as a special assistant to the Deputy. 

A Rhodes Scholar, Liu earned a master’s degree from Oxford and a law degree from Yale. 

“Liu has a breadth of experience that will be an invaluable addition to the Ninth Circuit,” said Berkeley Law alumni Hollu Fujie, immediate past president of the California State Bar. “I am excited that this nomination will add diversity to the federal courts of appeal.”