Goodwin Hon Liu

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American judge (born 1970)

Goodwin Liu

劉弘威

Liu in 2010

Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court

**Incumbent **

Assumed office
September 1, 2011Appointed byJerry Brown Preceded byCarlos Moreno Personal detailsBornGoodwin Hon Liu
(1970-10-19) October 19, 1970 (age 55)

Augusta, Georgia , U.S.

Party Democratic

Spouse

Ann O'Leary

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(m. 2002; sep. 2016)​

Domestic partner

Jane Kim (2016–present)EducationStanford University (BS )
Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford (MPhil )
Yale University (JD )Chinese nameTraditional Chinese 劉弘威Simplified Chinese 刘弘威

Goodwin Hon Liu (Chinese : 劉弘威; pinyin : Liú Hóngwēi; born October 19, 1970) is an American jurist who has served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of California since 2011. Before his appointment by Governor Jerry Brown , he was a professor of law and associate dean at the University of California, Berkeley . As of 2025, Liu is the S. William Green Visiting Professor of Public Law at Harvard Law School .

The son of Taiwanese American immigrants, Liu graduated from Stanford University and earned a master's degree from the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar . After graduating from Yale Law School , he served as a law clerk to Judge David Tatel and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg . On February 24, 2010, President Barack Obama nominated Liu to fill a vacancy on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit . For more than a year, Liu's nomination was delayed amid significant opposition from Republicans in the U.S. Senate. On May 19, 2011, the Senate failed to invoke cloture on Liu's nomination with the necessary supermajority in a 52–43 vote, and on May 25, 2011, Liu informed President Obama that he was withdrawing his name from consideration to the seat on the Ninth Circuit.

On July 26, 2011, Governor Jerry Brown nominated Liu to a seat on the Supreme Court of California , succeeding Associate Justice Carlos R. Moreno . Three days later, President Obama formally notified the Senate that he was withdrawing Liu's nomination for the federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Liu was sworn into the California Supreme Court on September 1, 2011.

Early life and education

[(https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Goodwin_Liu&action=edit&section=1 "Edit section: Early life and education")
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Liu was born in Augusta, Georgia , to a Taiwanese American family. His parents, Wen-Pen (劉文彬) and Yang-Ching Liu (蔡洋清), were Taiwanese doctors who immigrated to the United States from Taiwan as part of a program that recruited physicians in primary care to practice in rural areas. His older brother, Kingsway, is also a doctor. When Goodwin was three years old, the family moved to rural Clewiston, Florida , and he learned English for the first time while attending school there. In 1977, they relocated to Sacramento, California , where he attended public schools. Liu performed well academically and joined the Cub Scouts in fourth grade .

Due to having a limited proficiency in English, Liu spent nights studying dictionaries to increase his vocabulary for the SAT . He was educated at Sacramento's Rio Americano High School and became the captain of its tennis team, ultimately graduating in 1985 at age 15 as valedictorian of his high school class.

During his junior year of high school, he was mentored by state representative Bob Matsui , who sponsored Liu to be a page of the United States House of Representatives . After winning a statewide science competition at age 16, Liu was selected by California governor George Deukmejian to enroll in a special program at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory .

After high school, Liu studied biology at Stanford University with the intent to enter medical school. He received multiple distinguished awards as an undergraduate,

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