Washington — On Wednesday, President Barack Obama nominated Merrick Brian Garland, current Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, to serve on the Supreme Court. President’s proposal comes in a context where Republicans have accorded to block candidates selected by the White House.
Mr. Garland, 63, is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School. He was the supervisor of investigations of the Oklahoma City bombing and the “Unabomber” cases. In 1997, seven Republican senators voted to confirm him: Dan Coats, Thad Cochran, Susan Collins, Orrin Hatch, James M. Inhofe, John McCain, and Pat Roberts, according to The Washington Post.
However, Grand Old Party lawmakers have stressed that the new justice successor must be proposed by the next president and not by Mr. Obama. As a result, they plan to block any candidate selected by the Obama-Biden Administration. According to Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley, the next Supreme Court Justice may “dramatically change the direction of the court”.
In Contrast, Obama and Democrats have said that the Senate should confirm a new justice, because there are still 10 months, before new presidential elections take place. President Obama said at the White House Rose Garden that Mr. Garland is “one of America’s sharpest legal minds.”
“I have selected a nominee who is widely recognized not only as one of America’s sharpest legal minds, but someone who brings to his work a spirit of decency modesty, integrity, even-handedness and excellence.” Said President Obama on Tuesday at the White House.
President Obama added that Mr. Garland has earned the support from leaders of the Grand Old Party and the Democratic Party. The current chief judge said that Obama’s proposal was the greatest honor of his life, adding that serving at the Supreme Court would be the highest public service for him.
The White House has already created a Twitter account called @SCOTUSnom, in order to promote the nomination of Merrick Brian Garland.
Source: CNN