Senate Republicans on Thursday toppled the nomination, 52-43, of controversial University of California-Berkeley law professor Goodwin Liu, nominee for the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, a first in President Obama's presidency. In the end, only one Republican voted for the nominee, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK). Nebraska's Ben Nelson (D-NE), was the lone Democrat to oppose Liu. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), chose to vote "present," a sign of his long-time opposition to judicial nominee filibusters. Democrats needed 60 votes to move the nomination to final passage. GOP Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), said the nominee's writings "reveal a left-wing ideologue who views the role of a judge not as that of an impartial arbiter, but as someone who views the bench as a position of power."