Obama nominates Merrick Garland to U.S. Supreme Court

WASHINGTON DC — He’s made his decision: President Barack Obama announced Chief Judge Merrick Garland will replace Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court.

Garland is the chief judge for the United States 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 Supreme Court justices.

The announcement was made at 11 a.m. in the Rose Garden.

"This is not a responsibility that I take lightly," Obama said, adding that he spoke with a wide group of people ranging from advocacy groups to the Senate Judiciary Committee in his search for a new justice.

He said Garland, 63, is "well-known in Democratic and Republican circles for his "decency, honesty, integrity (and) even-handedness."

Who is Merrick Garland, Obama nominee to the US Supreme Court?

Obama held up Garland as a diligent public servant, highlighting his work leading the investigation into the Oklahoma City bombing.

Obama quoted past praise for Garland from Chief Justice John Roberts and Sen. Orrin Hatch. And he said Garland's talent for bringing together "odd couples" made him a consensus candidate best poised to become an immediate force on the nation's highest court.

%

%

Garland graduated summa cum laude from Harvard College in 1974 and magna cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1977.

Following graduation, Garland served as law clerk to Judge Henry J. Friendly of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and to U.S. Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan, Jr.

From 1979 to 1981, he was Special Assistant to the Attorney General of the United States.

He is the oldest person to be nominated to the Supreme Court since President Nixon named Justice Lewis Powell in 1971.

Cox Media Group