On Wednesday, President Obama stole the post-primary news-cycle by announcing his nominee for the Supreme Court. Judge Merrick Garland is 63 and currently the chief judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. He was appointed in 1997 by President Clinton and was confirmed by a 76-23 vote.
Chief Judge Garland was born in Chicago's South Shore neighborhood and raised in the suburb of Lincolnwood. His grandparents came to Chicago from Russia, fleeing anti-semitism. His father founded Garland Advertising while his mother was director of volunteer services at the Council for Jewish Elderly. After graduating from Niles Wood High School, Judge Garland attended Harvard for his undergraduate and law degrees. He graduated undergrad summa cum laude and worked his way through law school. Apparently, his comic book collection was also sold to fuel his endeavor. He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law and worked as an editor for the Harvard Law Review.
Garland clerked for both Second Circuit Judge Henry Friendly and Associate Justice William Brennan Jr. of the Supreme Court.
When he married Lynn Rosenman, Garland was an attorney in Washington at the firm of Arnold and Porter. He soon left the private sector and became a federal prosecutor for U.S. Attorney’s Office for D.C,, under the presidency of the first Bush. Moving on to the Department of Justice, Garland became Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division, and then Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General.
While at the DOJ, Garland oversaw the Oklahoma City bombing case. While in charge he stayed in Oklahoma and garnered praise for keeping in touch with victims' families. The Republican governor at the time, Frank Keating, said of Chief Judge Garland, “[he] distinguished himself in a situation where he had to lead a highly complicated investigation and make quick decisions during critical times.” Even President Obama, discussing his interview with Garland, said, "When you hear about the care with which [Garland] dealt with the victims and the families who had been affected by the Oklahoma City bombing, you get a sense of who that person is."
Chief Judge Garland was appointed to the D.C. Circuit court in 1997, with a bipartisan majority. Seven current Republican Senators (Senator Coats, Senator Cochran, Senator Collins, Senator Hatch, Senator Inhofe, Senator McCain, and Senator Roberts) supported Garland's confirmation.
As Chief Judge, Garland has proved himself a moderate, which may be one reason that President Obama finally nominated him for the bench: Garland was on 'the short list' for both of the president's previous appointments, when he selected Justices Kagan and Sotomayor.
Garland is widely respected as an able jurist, called by a former clerk, "a judge's judge." With such a hotly contested nomination, where Republicans have been denying they will give an Obama nominee even the courtesy of a hearing, the Chief Judge is someone who the Republicans will have a hard time denying without looking like this is being done solely for political purposes.
In fact, Republican's should be pleased with Garland. So far, his high profile cases so far have been on national security and campaign finance, where his rulings have not always pleased liberals. As a lower court judge, he has followed the precedent of the higher court in a ruling on SpeechNow.org v. Federal Election Commission, which drew on the Citizens United ruling, to allow unlimited contributions to Super PACs. He has not, however, faced many of the social issues that serve to divide the right and left so consistently.
Politically, Garland's ties to Illinois may be an attempt by President Obama to influence the senate race there: Republican Senator Mark Kirk is facing a reelection fight and has already claimed that he thinks that Obama has the right to a nominee and that person has the right to a senate hearing. In fact, Senator Kirk is one of the few Republicans who does believe Republicans should do their job. He said in a radio interview Friday, “Just man up and cast a vote. The tough thing about these senatorial jobs is you get ‘yes’ or ‘no’ votes. Your whole job is to either say ‘yes’ or ‘no,’ and explain why.” Several other Senators facing re-election campaigns have followed in agreeing to meetings with the nominee.
By naming a moderate judge with no history as an activist from the bench, who has, in previous years, been described as a consensus nominee, Obama has aimed to paint the Republicans in the Senate as not doing their jobs if they refuse to give Garland hearings. Had a more progressive justice been chosen, the blocking could more easily fit the Republican's desired narrative--that they are waiting for the American people to decide. Yet with a centrist known for his legal principles, their case is much harder to make. No matter how much the judicial branch is supposed to be isolated from politics, this nomination makes it clear that no branch of government is free from partisan turmoil.
The ball is in the Senate's court and only time will tell where it goes.
More information on Chief Judge Garland's rulings can be found here.
