For the second time, President Obama's nominee for the Northern District of California, Magistrate Edward Chen, has cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee by a party line vote of 12-7. If you'll remember, Chen's nomination has been stalled by Republicans who have criticized Chen for his public statements and background as a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union. From an editorial in the San Francisco Gate:

"There are two telling traits about the utter dishonesty in the trashing of Edward Chen. One, each of the anecdotes being used against him looks dramatically different in context. Two, the "case" against Chen does not include a shred of evidence from his nine years as a federal magistrate to challenge his dedication to administering the law in a fair and impartial manner."

From a recent article in the same paper:

Chen, 56, was appointed as a magistrate by Bay Area federal judges in 2001. He would be the first Asian American judge in the federal Northern District of California, which extends along the coast from Monterey County to the Oregon border.

He was an ACLU attorney in San Francisco from 1985 to 2001 and worked on a suit unsuccessfully challenging Proposition 209, the 1996 initiative that outlawed state and local affirmative action programs based on race or gender preferences.

Republicans said they questioned his impartiality based on his ACLU work and some of his speeches and writings. Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., quoted Chen as saying in a 2007 speech that he found it rewarding to write decisions that contributed to the development of the law, "especially if it comports with my view of justice."

"He has his own view of what justice is," Kyl said. "That's not what a judge should bring to the court."

Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., cited a 2003 essay in which Chen said diversity on the bench improves decision-making because judges can draw from varied life experiences. "He believes a judge is justified in allowing his life experiences, which I think are akin to biases, to influence his decisions," Sessions said.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who recommended Chen to Obama, said opponents were distorting his record. She said he had won praise from federal prosecutors, law enforcement officers and colleagues including U.S. District Judge D. Lowell Jensen of Oakland, a former Justice Department official under President Ronald Reagan.

Jensen described Chen as "an excellent jurist and a person of high character."

"He has made the transition from advocate to a fair and impartial adjudicator," Feinstein said.