Why Newsom should make Goodwin Liu next state AG
In 2009, then-professor Goodwin Liu led several thousand people in making rain, the summer camp way. He was onstage at UC Berkeley’s Greek Theater, conducting the crowd before starting a commencement speech. Quietly at first, then rising to a thunderstorm, we rubbed our palms. We snapped our fingers slowly, then quickly. We slapped our knees. The rain rose from patter to downpour, drenching the crowd in sound until falling back away.
Liu’s moving graduation address earned him a standing ovation, but it was his rainstorm I remember best. We were two years into a drought by then, with the record-setting drought of 2011-2017 coming fast. Thousands of low-income people living in tribal and rural communities, especially in the San Joaquin Valley, lost access to drinking water across those years.
A sinking water table exposed our remaining groundwater to higher concentrations of contaminants from fertilizers and pesticides. That long drought still plagues us, as wildfires tear through forests stocked with dead and ailing trees.
If only Liu could have made it actually rain during our driest years. But he did the next best thing: In a decade of service as an associate justice of the California Supreme Court, along with leadership in philanthropy and national law reform, Liu has been a strong voice for a clean and equitable environment.
Liu has been put forward as a candidate for California’s attorney general. At a time of climate crisis but also political opportunity, his leadership is what our state needs at California’s Department of Justice — one of the most impactful arms of state government for land, air and water. Former Attorney General Xavier Becerra is moving into federal service, and Washington, D.C., is transitioning from foe to friend on environmental policy. California needs a leader with national stature and state expertise who can rebuild California/federal partnerships to make both governments more effective.
Liu is that person. His credentials, reputation, expertise and service record are as good as it gets. He is best known for his work on criminal and juvenile justice reform, education, and racial equity. He has authored more than 100 opinions protecting Californians in schools and workplaces. Liu has condemned the “school-to-prison pipeline,” punitive truancy policies that entangle Black, Latino and Native American students in the criminal justice system. He has used his prestige to help diversify the leadership of the legal profession. Earlier in his career, his school-finance research guided legislation that better supported schools that educate our lowest-income children.
Even as his reputation on social justice issues has grown, Liu’s opinions have also helped protect the federal Clean Water Act, shield environmentally disadvantaged communities from added air pollutants, and improve land use planning to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. He has seen our extreme rates of racial and economic inequality in access to clean air, safe housing and drinking water, open space and health care. Moving from being a judge to the state’s top public lawyer will free him to face those issues. Environmental work will be among his highest priorities.
I have been privileged to know and work with Liu for 15 years. I have marveled to see how his humility, integrity and commitment lift everyone around him. Though he cannot literally make it rain, he can do a version of what he did at the Greek Theater. He can lead Californians, in and beyond government, to work together toward a common mission. A fair, sustainable future will depend on the California Department of Justice. That office will be at its best with Liu as attorney general.
Even as his reputation on social justice issues has grown, Liu’s opinions have also helped protect the federal Clean Water Act, shield environmentally disadvantaged communities from added air pollutants, and improve land use planning to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.