Obama Picks Merrick Garland for SCOTUS

President Obama will nominate Merrick Garland to be the next Justice of the Supreme Court in a press conference Wednesday morning. Garland, 63, is the Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Garland has served on the appeals panel since 1997, following a nomination by Bill Clinton in 1995 that was stalled for two years. Garland was approved then by the Senate in a 76-23 vote, with several Republicans supporting him. (Sen. Orrin Hatch at the time called Garland “not only a fine nominee, but as good as Republicans can expect from [the Clinton] administration.”) Prior to the appeals court, Garland served as a prosecutor in the Justice Department, most notably prosecuting the Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski.

If approved, Garland will be the oldest Supreme Court justice put on the bench since Lewis Powell in 1971, who was 64.