Last week, President Obama announced his nominee to fill the seat left open by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia early last month. Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell reiterated that the nomination process should be left till the next President is nominated. But McConnell is only one voice in the voting process.
Federal Judge Merrick Garland was nominated but how much do we really know about him? Obama called him one of the sharpest legal minds but what has he done to deserve the nomination.
Here are 10 things about Merrick Garland:
1. His middle name is Brian and he is a married father of two.
2. Similar to Obama, Garland is a fellow Chicagoan who attended Harvard. Garland graduated in 1974 summa cum laude and 1977 from Harvard Law School magna cum laude.
3. His wife, Lynn Rosenmann Garland, is the daughter of former New York Supreme Court justice who served as a well-respected advisor to Presidents Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman.
4. He would be the fourth judge on the circuit to be Jewish.
5. Obama once considered nominating him for the position. It is rumored he was on the shortlist in 2010.
6. Garland is 63 years old which makes him the oldest Supreme Court nominee since Lewis Powell who was 64 in 1972.
7. He has spent the last three years serving as the chief judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for D.C.
8. He is a favorite amongst Democratic presidents. President Clinton nominated him for an opening on the D.C. Circuit in 1995.
9. He is familiar with Republican disagreements as it took 19 months for him to be confirmed on the D.C. Circuit.
10. He has spent the majority of his career in government affairs but for four years he worked in Arnold & Porter. He was then named a partner while teaching at Harvard Law.
(All images from Google.com)