Earlier this month, Justice Goodwin Liu spoke at the UC Law San Francisco commencement. In his address, a Law360 article said, Justice Liu used humor and serious entreaties to take “several swipes at the Trump administration.” (See here; video of the speech here; he gave a similar speech to University of San Diego law graduates the following week.)
The speech received other press coverage later.
John Hill in Law360Canada had a column called, “When the judiciary and politics mix.” He said that “Justice Liu was delivering an important and timely message” in a manner with no Canadian equivalent — “In Canada, we have never had a situation like” Liu’s speech that directly criticized the U.S. administration. “Nonetheless,” he added, “should the executive branch of Canada get so out of line that democracy in this country is threatened, hopefully our judges and lawyers will be the first to speak up.”
Also, on AboveThe Law, Chris Williams had, “California Supreme Court Justice Goodwin Liu Shows Some Judges Actually Have A Good Sense Of Humor.” He wrote that Liu is an exception to the principle that “[d]onning the black robes that come with being a judge requires handling most matters with a baseline solemnity that doesn’t leave much room for taking things lightly.”
