US President Barack Obama nominated US Court of Appeals Judge Merrick Garland to the US Supreme Court on Wednesday, thrusting the jurist and former prosecutor into the center of an election-year clash over the future of the nation’s highest court.
Obama cast the 63-year-old Garland as “a serious man and an exemplary judge,” deserving of a full hearing and a US Senate confirmation vote, despite Republican vows to deny him both.
Standing in the White House Rose Garden with Garland, Obama said that the integrity of the court was at stake and appealed to the Senate to “play it straight” in filling the seat left vacant by the death of Antonin Scalia.
Photo: EPA
“It’s supposed to be above politics,” Obama said of the high court. “It has to be. And it should stay that way.”
Republican leaders held to their refusal to consider any nominee, saying the seat should be filled by the next president after this year’s election.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell spoke with Garland by telephone, but did not change his position that “the American people will have a voice.”
He said he would not be holding “a perfunctory meeting, but he wished Judge Garland well,” a spokesman said.
Unlike McConnell, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley said he is open to meeting with Garland in the coming weeks, as did five other Republican senators — Rob Portman of Ohio, Jeff Flake of Arizona, Susan Collins of Maine, James Inhofe of Oklahoma and Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire. Others vowed to give his record a close look.
The judge was to begin visiting with Democratic senators in Washington yesterday before the Senate breaks for a two-week recess.
Scheduling courtesy meetings is a long way from securing a full hearing, much less winning the 60 votes needed for confirmation. Still, the White House seized the comments as evidence Garland’s weighty resume and bipartisan credentials were putting pressure on Republicans.
Garland is the chief judge for the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, a court whose influence over federal policy and national security matters has made it a proving ground for potential justices.
A graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School, Garland has clerked for two appointees of former US president Dwight Eisenhower — Justice William Brennan Jr, as well as Judge Henry Friendly, for whom Chief Justice John Roberts also clerked. As a federal prosecutor, he made his reputation overseeing the investigation and prosecutions in the Oklahoma City bombing case in 1995, as well as the case against unabomber Ted Kaczynski.
When confirmed to the DC Circuit in 1997, Garland won backing from a majority in both parties, including seven current Republicans senators.
As a replacement for Scalia, Garland would be expected to align with the more liberal members on environmental regulation, labor disputes and campaign finance.
The DC Circuit is not a hotbed for cases on social issues, leaving few solid indicators of Garland’s views on abortion or the death penalty.
Garland’s involvement in two high-profile gun rights cases has prompted concern from gun control opponents. In 2007, Garland wanted the full court to reconsider a panel decision that struck down Washington’s ban on handgun ownership.
However, Garland never took a position on the merits of the case.
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