Category: Washington, D.C.

More APA Items and What’s with the Law?

Follow up on the Goodwin Liu nomination (see previous post here) and it’s unfortunate news: as Dahlia Lithwick over at Slate reports, Goodwin Liu has withdrawn his nomination for the 9th Circuit. The number of Asian Pacific American active federal appellate judges will remain just one. Pardon me as I say that just sucks.

See also NAPABA’s press release on the subject: “NAPABA Disappointed by Withdrawal of Nomination by Professor Liu, Praises Liu for His Courage.”

Meanwhile, the legal industry is getting some attention on how it does business: this NY Times article by Catherine Rampell, available via Yahoo notes that a non-partnership track in big firms are possibly good for work/life balance, and is sort of like outsourcing – but a perception that it’s a “second class” track can’t quite be ignored. (then again, public service attorneys earning $60k/year are not considered badly off; it’s more of a private sector thing – who would feel a little weird to not make the kind of big money in the big firm, just because you’re not on the same track as others in the big firm?).

Interesting videos available via WLIW Channel 21: The Asian Indians in America and The Chinese Americans. They’re both more celebratory type of videos (sure, go ahead, celebrate those model minorities with their great work ethic, family values, and diverse cultures), but have some pretty fascinating talking heads giving their insights about being Asian Indian and Chinese in America. Guess we all need some positivity out there for the moment.

And Over at the US Senate…

Per NAPABA: the U.S. Senate failed to pass a cloture vote on judicial nominee Professor Goodwin Liu.  No up or down vote; continued filibustering.

Slate’s Dahlia Lithwick on today’s mess in the Senate. She’s so on point about the hypocrisy.

I get that the Republicans don’t like Liu; just vote straight up or down, rather than be hypocrites about this. I mean, really – the Republicans were upset that he was mean about the nomination of Justice Alito?  As if mere meanness meant that Liu couldn’t be an appellate judge.  And, please don’t tell me that he has no experience.  I eye-roll about how a law professor who has been a Rhodes Scholar isn’t qualified to be an appeals court judge.

Nina Totenberg of NPR reports that Liu is likely to withdraw, since he has been at this for over a year now.

Some More Stuff

Jim Lehrer stepping down as the main anchor on the Newshour.  Kind of weird that it’s really happening, even if Jim Lehrer was planning for the future for quite awhile (yeah, the future’s here!); at least he’ll still be on Fridays to moderate Shields and Brooks.

The Washington Post with a nice Lehrer profile for the occasion.  I like the description of the Lehrer and MacNeil friendship.

An analysis of NBC’s “Outsourced,” on NPR’s Monkey See Blog, as “Outsourced” is going to have its Big Sleep, presuming that being in the bubble means likely cancellation (yes, a Raymond Chandler reference; I recommend the book, if only to get the metaphor).  Americans of Indian descent deserve a better sitcom.  Actually, all Americans do, but that’s another story entirely.

I’m almost got caught up with “Community” – but for the season finale, which was earlier this evening.  I did catch the last 5 minutes of the season finale though.  I don’t think I’ll ever truly appreciate Chevy Chase as Pierce, but maybe the writers will figure out to work Pierce better with the rest of the study group.  Or how to avoid putting too much Ken Jeong out there; too much of him can be a bit much.

However, hat tip to 8Asians’ Facebook fan page: Ken Jeong’s Mother’s Day post on the Huffington Post, in honor of his wife was sweet.

I think that I ought to get caught up on “Parks and Recreation.”  “Fringe” is not a sitcom, but it is … very strange…  time traveling always gives me a headache.  I’ll say that much.

Hat tip to a law school classmate, JK: link to this article in the New York Magazine by Wesley Yang, “Paper Tigers: What happens to all the Asian-American overachievers when test-taking ends?”  A really interesting and complex read, because it’s kind of true – we as APA’s have to figure out the soft skills, not just taking a standardized test – and that’s not something to blame on affirmative action (the existence or lack thereof), but also involves class and culture clashes.

In response to the Wesley Yang article, YC – via Facebook – suggested this link, “Tiger Moms and Black Swans,” considering how much parenting and other elements (like, how do we really view our kids?  what do we really value?) are so relevant.

Hat tip to NAPABA’s fan page on Facebook: APA’s making progress in the federal judiciary, but with far to go.