WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama nominated Appeals Court Judge Merrick Garland to the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday, calculating that the highly regarded jurist might blunt some of the expected political attacks and ultimately embarrass Senate Republicans into dropping their fierce opposition to the nomination.
Amid a swirl of speculation about whether Obama would use the vacancy to expand ethnic or gender diversity on the court, Obama picked Garland, the 63-year-old chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. A moderate who has been on the appellate bench for almost two decades, Garland has served presidents from both parties and was confirmed by the Senate 19 years ago. He is the grandson of Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe, not being a “first” in the way an Asian-American or black female nominee would have been.
But Obama decided that it might be more politically difficult for Republicans to deny Garland a hearing and a vote after he has been the subject of effusive bipartisan accolades for decades.
“I hope they’re fair,” Obama said of Senate Republicans during his Rose Garden announcement. “That’s all. I hope they are fair.”
Although Obama was composed and even a bit defiant in his remarks, Garland choked up as he thanked the president. “This is the greatest honor of my life — other than Lynn agreeing to marry me 28 years ago,” Garland said. He mentioned his mother watching on television and “crying her eyes out” and his two sisters, “who have supported me in every step I have ever taken. I only wish that my father were here to see this today.”
In private conversations with aides and political allies in recent days, Obama emphasized that although he might have disappointed some supporters who were lobbying for a woman or a person of color, he picked someone with whom he has a personal affinity and someone whose record was, in Obama’s words, “unassailable.”
White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett said in an interview that Obama “was looking for someone whose values he shares, who’s committed to public service” and could serve as “a consensus builder” on the court.
“There is a humanity to his character that touched the president, as well,” she said.
Garland was on a list of three finalists that also included Sri Srinivasan, a 49-year-old Indian-American who also sits on the D.C. Circuit, and Paul Watford, a 48-year-old California judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.
After the announcement, Senate Republican leaders reiterated their intention not to vote on the nomination, arguing again that they think the next president should fill the vacancy because it comes in the middle of a presidential election season and so late in Obama’s final term. But they refrained from attacking Garland directly. Half a dozen said they would meet with him, and a couple said they would consider holding a vote during a lame-duck session, especially if a Democrat won the White House in November.
Garland, who was appointed to the D.C. federal appeals court by President Bill Clinton in April 1997, was confirmed on a 76-23 vote and became chief judge three years ago. Seven current Republican senators voted to confirm Garland to the federal bench in 1997: Daniel Coats, Ind.; Thad Cochran, Miss.; Susan Collins, Maine; Orrin G. Hatch, Utah; James M. Inhofe, Okla.; John McCain, Ariz.; and Pat Roberts, Kan.
Senators of both parties settled in Wednesday for what all expect to be an extended political siege around the nomination. Democrats will seek to pressure vulnerable Republican incumbents in tough reelection campaigns — and by extension, GOP leaders who are hoping to preserve their Senate majority — into abandoning the blockade.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., vowed that will not happen. He spoke by phone with Garland and, according to McConnell’s spokesman, “wished Judge Garland well” but made clear he would not meet with him.
Merrick B. Garland
• AGE — 63.
• CURRENT POSITION — Chief judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
• PROFESSIONAL: Before becoming a judge in 1997, Garland served in the Justice Department as principal associate deputy attorney general and deputy assistant attorney general in the criminal division. He was a federal prosecutor in the District of Columbia from 1989 to 1992 and a partner in the law firm of Arnold & Porter from 1985 to 1989 and from 1992 to 1993.
• EDUCATION — Harvard College and Harvard Law School.
• OF NOTE — Garland supervised Justice Department investigations into the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing and Unabomber Ted Kaczynski.
The Associated Press
