Controversial Nominee Approved to Court in Time for Prop. 8 Hearing

The California Supreme Court will include a new voice, Goodwin Liu, on the bench when it hears a Proposition 8 case Tuesday.

The court is set to decide whether supporters of the Proposition 8 amendment can defend it in a court challenge if the state government won't. Liu has been a vocal proponent of gay rights, and his nomination to a federal appeals court by President Obama was scuttled earlier this year in part because he once said defining marriage only as a union between one man and one woman is unconstitutional.

But Liu's nomination was unanimously approved today by the state Commission on Judicial Appointments, which reviews nominees. So it seems Liu was too liberal for Washington and the Senate Republicans who delayed a vote on his nomination, but not for California.

The Los Angeles Times reports that no one testified against Liu. Letters against Liu's nomination by California governor Jerry Brown included one from Judicial Watch, a conservative group that called Liu an "activist" -- a label repeated many times in Washington before Liu withdrew his own nomination.

"Professor Liu was one of Obama's most radical and inexperienced judicial nominees," wrote Ernie "Sterling" Norris, an attorney for the group, according to the Los Angeles Times.