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.
Yemen’s separatist leader has vowed to keep working for an independent state in the country’s south, in his first social media post since he disappeared earlier this month after his group briefly seized swathes of territory. Aidarous al-Zubaidi’s United Arab Emirates (UAE)-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) forces last month captured two Yemeni provinces in an offensive that was rolled back by Saudi strikes and Riyadh’s allied forces on the ground. Al-Zubaidi then disappeared after he failed to board a flight to Riyadh for talks earlier this month, with Saudi Arabia accusing him of fleeing to Abu Dhabi, while supporters insisted he was
The Chinese Embassy in Manila yesterday said it has filed a diplomatic protest against a Philippine Coast Guard spokesman over a social media post that included cartoonish images of Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Jay Tarriela and an embassy official had been trading barbs since last week over issues concerning the disputed South China Sea. The crucial waterway, which Beijing claims historic rights to despite an international ruling that its assertion has no legal basis, has been the site of repeated clashes between Chinese and Philippine vessels. Tarriela’s Facebook post on Wednesday included a photo of him giving a
‘MOBILIZED’: While protesters countered ICE agents, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz activated the state’s National Guard to ‘support the rights of Minnesotans’ to assemble Hundreds of counterprotesters drowned out a far-right activist’s attempt to hold a small rally in support of US President Donald Trump’s latest immigration crackdown in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Saturday, as the governor’s office announced that National Guard troops were mobilized and ready to assist law enforcement, although not yet deployed to city streets. There have been protests every day since the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ramped up immigration enforcement in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul by bringing in more than 2,000 federal officers. Conservative influencer Jake Lang organized an anti-Islam, anti-Somali and pro-US Immigration and Customs Enforcement
NASA on Saturday rolled out its towering Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft as it began preparations for its first crewed mission to the Moon in more than 50 years. The maneuver, which takes up to 12 hours, would allow the US space agency to begin a string of tests for the Artemis 2 mission, which could blast off as early as Feb. 6. The immense orange and white SLS rocket, and the Orion vessel were slowly wheeled out of the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and painstakingly moved 6.5km to Launch Pad 39B. If the
RSS