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Shown here are Obama judicial nominee David Barron, left, and President Obama.AP

President Obama's nominees to the federal courts and other positions increasingly are coming under fire from the left, in a change of pace from the days when the administration said Republicans were the ones creating confirmation headaches.

The latest to face the wrath of the president's supposed allies are a pair of judicial nominees.

One, Harvard Law School professor David Barron, was nominated to the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston but faced complaints about his role in providing the administration's legal justification for killing U.S. citizens allegedly helping Al Qaeda.

The other, Michael Boggs, was nominated for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia but came under criticism from liberal groups for socially conservative positions he took during his time in the state legislature.

Boggs faced a hearing Tuesday morning before the Senate Judiciary Committee, where his detractors and defenders, and Boggs himself, had a chance to face off.

At the hearing, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., challenged him on his opposition to same-sex marriage and other stances, asking if they would be "indicative" of how he'd serve as a federal judge.

"Judges should not be policymakers," Boggs replied, adding he should have done a better job in the past of making that distinction.

The nominee for weeks has faced complaints over some of the bills he sponsored and voted for while serving in the Georgia General Assembly, mainly because his votes reflect more socially conservative views on abortion and gay rights, despite the fact he served as a Democrat.

Among the bills he co-sponsored was one in 2003 to establish a "Choose Life adoption support program" to encourage women to consider adoption over abortion. The bill would have established a "Choose Life" license plate to fund the program. Another bill Boggs co-sponsored that year would have tightened restrictions on minors seeking abortions.

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Obama nominees face liberal ire