Obama to Nominate Harvard Alum Merrick Garland for Supreme Court
Photo via AP
President Barack Obama is expected to nominate Harvard alum Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court, the Associated Press reports.
Garland, a chief justice for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, was confirmed to his current position in 1997, with backing from a majority in both parties, including eight current Republican senators.
Senate Republicans have vowed to block any appointment Obama attempts on the grounds that the opening left by late Justice Antonin Scalia, another Harvard Law alum, ought to be filled by the next president. Anticipating resistance, the White House launched the @SCOTUSnom Twitter account to sway public opinion, even turning the Republicans’ own idol against them.
The last time a president's Supreme Court nominee was denied a vote?
1875.https://t.co/OI0bmv6H5M #SCOTUS pic.twitter.com/SkrbGwks7z
— SCOTUS Nom (NARA) (@SCOTUSnom) March 16, 2016
Some wise words from President Reagan. https://t.co/OI0bmv6H5M #SCOTUSnominee pic.twitter.com/lQ22XP0zjS
— SCOTUS Nom (NARA) (@SCOTUSnom) March 16, 2016
Garland graduated valedictorian from Harvard in 1974, before graduating magna cum laude from Harvard Law in 1977. Like Obama, he was a member of the Harvard Law Review, served as articles editor for one year. If appointed, Garland would be the ninth Jewish justice in the court’s history, following Elena Kagan, another Harvard alum and previous Obama appointee.
