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Garland and his wife, Lynn, have been married since 1987. Lynn Garland's grandfather, [[Samuel Irving Rosenman]], was a justice of the [[New York Supreme Court]] (a trial-level court) and a special counsel to Presidents [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] and [[Harry S. Truman]].<ref name="nytimesref"/> Garland and his wife have two daughters, Rebecca and Jessica; both are graduates of [[Yale University]].<ref name="WhoIsGarland">{{cite news |authors=Reena Flores & Rebecca Shabad|title=Who is Merrick Garland?|url=http://www.cbsnews.com/news/who-is-merrick-garland/|accessdate=March 16, 2016|publisher=CBS News|date=March 16, 2016}}</ref>
Garland and his wife, Lynn, have been married since 1987. Lynn Garland's grandfather, [[Samuel Irving Rosenman]], was a justice of the [[New York Supreme Court]] (a trial-level court) and a special counsel to Presidents [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] and [[Harry S. Truman]].<ref name="nytimesref"/> Garland and his wife have two daughters, Rebecca and Jessica; both are graduates of [[Yale University]].<ref name="WhoIsGarland">{{cite news |authors=Reena Flores & Rebecca Shabad|title=Who is Merrick Garland?|url=http://www.cbsnews.com/news/who-is-merrick-garland/|accessdate=March 16, 2016|publisher=CBS News|date=March 16, 2016}}</ref>


Garland is a resident of [[Bethesda, Maryland]].<ref>Andrew Metcalf, [http://www.bethesdamagazine.com/Bethesda-Beat/Web-2016/Obama-Nominates-Bethesda-Resident-Merrick-Garland-to-Serve-on-US-Supreme-Court/ Obama Nominates Bethesda Resident Merrick Garland to Serve on U.S. Supreme Court], ''Bethesda Magazine'' (March 16, 2016).</ref> He is a member of Temple Sinai, a [[Reform Judaism|Reform]] synagogue in that neighborhood.<ref name=jewish>{{cite news |last=Sichel |first=Jared |date=16 March 2016 |title=Merrick Garland’s Jewish family: Matzah, prayer shawls and Democratic Party politics|url=http://www.jewishjournal.com/nation/article/merrick_garlands_jewish_ancestry_matzah_prayer_shawls_and_democratic_party |newspaper=Jewish Journal |access-date=18 March 2016 }}</ref>
Garland is a resident of [[Bethesda, Maryland]].<ref>Andrew Metcalf, [http://www.bethesdamagazine.com/Bethesda-Beat/Web-2016/Obama-Nominates-Bethesda-Resident-Merrick-Garland-to-Serve-on-US-Supreme-Court/ Obama Nominates Bethesda Resident Merrick Garland to Serve on U.S. Supreme Court], ''Bethesda Magazine'' (March 16, 2016).</ref>


==Selected publications==
==Selected publications==

Revision as of 16:21, 19 March 2016

Merrick Garland
Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
Assumed office
February 12, 2013
Preceded byDavid Sentelle
Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
Assumed office
March 20, 1997
Appointed byBill Clinton
Preceded byAbner Mikva
Personal details
Born
Merrick Brian Garland

(1952-11-13) November 13, 1952 (age 71)
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
Spouse
Lynn Rosenman
​
(m. 1987)​
ChildrenRebecca (b. 1991)
Jessica (b. 1993)
Alma materHarvard University

Merrick Brian Garland (born November 13, 1952) is an American federal judge who is the chief judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. He has served on that court since 1997.

A native of the Chicago area, Garland graduated summa cum laude as valedictorian from Harvard College and graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School. After serving as a law clerk to Judge Henry J. Friendly of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and Justice William J. Brennan, Jr. of the Supreme Court of the United States, he practiced corporate litigation at Arnold & Porter and worked as a federal prosecutor in the U.S. Department of Justice, where he played a leading role in the investigation and prosecution of the Oklahoma City bombers.

In 1995, Garland was appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and (following a delay in Senate confirmation) took the bench in 1997. In 2009 and 2010, Garland was considered by President Barack Obama for two openings on the Supreme Court.

On March 16, 2016, Obama nominated Garland to serve as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, to fill the vacancy created by the death of Antonin Scalia.

Early life and family

Garland was born on November 13, 1952 in Chicago, Illinois.[2] He was raised in the Chicago area,[3] in the northern suburb of Lincolnwood.[4]

Garland's mother Shirley (née Horwitz) was a director of volunteer services at Chicago's Council for Jewish Elderly; his father, Cyril Garland, headed Garland Advertising, a small business run out of the family's home.[5][6][3][7] Born to a Jewish family, Garland was raised in Conservative Judaism.[7] His grandparents left the Pale of Settlement in the early 20th century, fleeing antisemitism and seeking a better life for their children in the United States.[7] Through his father, Garland is a second cousin of Iowa Governor Terry Branstad.[8]

Education and legal training

Garland graduated from Niles West High School in Skokie, Illinois, as the class valedictorian.[3][4] Garland was also a Presidential Scholar and a National Merit Scholar.[9][10]

Garland attended Harvard College on a scholarship, graduating as valedictorian with an A.B. summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa in social studies in 1974.[3][11][12] Garland then attended Harvard Law School, graduating with a J.D. magna cum laude in 1977.[11] During law school, Garland was a member of the Harvard Law Review, serving as its articles editor from 1976 to 1977.[12] Following graduation, he served as a law clerk for Judge Henry J. Friendly of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit from 1977 to 1978, and then Justice William J. Brennan, Jr. of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1978 to 1979.[12]

Prosecutor and in private practice

Garland was special assistant to Attorney General Benjamin Civiletti from 1979 to 1981.[3] After the administration turned over, Garland joined the law firm of Arnold & Porter, where he was a partner from 1985 to 1989.[13][3] While at Arnold & Porter, Garland mostly practiced corporate litigation.[3] In 1985-86, while at Arnold & Porter, Garland was a lecturer in law at Harvard Law School, where he taught antitrust law.[12][14] He has also published articles on antitrust law in both the Harvard Law Review and the Yale Law Journal.[14]

In 1989, desiring to return to public service and do more trial work, Garland became an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia. As a line prosecutor, Garland represented the government in criminal cases ranging from drug trafficking to complex public corruption matters.[3]

Garland then briefly returned to Arnold & Porter, working there from 1992 to 1993.[13] In 1993, Garland joined the new Clinton administration as deputy assistant attorney general in the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.[3] The following year, then-Deputy Attorney General Jamie Gorelick—a key mentor of Garland's[15]—asked Garland to be her principal deputy.[3]

In that role, Garland's responsibilities included the supervision of highest-profile domestic-terrorism cases in recent U.S. history, including the Oklahoma City bombing prosecutions, the UNABOM prosecution, and the Atlanta Olympics bombings investigations.[3][16] Garland insisted on being sent to Oklahoma City in the aftermath of the attack to examine the crime scene and oversee the investigation in preparation for the prosecution.[17]

Garland represented the government at the preliminary hearings of the two main defendants in the Oklahoma City case, Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols.[17] Garland offered to lead the trial team, but could not because he was needed at the Justice Department headquarters. Instead, he helped pick the team and supervised it from Washington, where he was involved in major decisions, including the choice to seek the death penalty for McVeigh and Nichols.[17] Garland won praise for his work on the case from the Republican governor of Oklahoma, Frank Keating.[3]

Appointment to the D.C. Circuit

On September 6, 1995, President Bill Clinton nominated Garland to the D.C. Circuit seat vacated by Abner J. Mikva. The American Bar Association (ABA) Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary gave Garland a "unanimously well-qualified" committee rating, its highest.[18]

On December 1, 1995, Garland received a hearing before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee.[19] But Senate Republicans did not then schedule a vote on Garland's confirmation,[3] not because of concerns over Garland's qualifications but because of a dispute over whether to fill his predecessor's seat.[14][20]

After winning the November 1996 presidential election, Clinton renominated Garland on January 7, 1997.[21] Garland's confirmation vote came to floor of the Senate on March 19, 1997. He was confirmed in a 76-23 vote and received his judicial commission the next day.[22] The majority of Republican senators voted to confirm Garland, including Senators John McCain, Orrin Hatch, Susan Collins, and Jim Inhofe.[23] Senators Mitch McConnell, Chuck Grassley, and Jeff Sessions were among those who voted against Garland.[23] All of the 23 "no" votes came from Republicans, and all were based "on whether there was even a need for an eleventh seat" on the D.C. Circuit.[24]

Service on the D.C. Circuit, reputation, and judicial philosophy

Garland is considered a judicial moderate and a centrist.[25] Garland has been described by Nina Totenberg and Carrie Johnson of NPR as "a moderate liberal, with a definite pro-prosecution bent in criminal cases".[3]

Tom Goldstein, the publisher of SCOTUSblog, wrote in 2010 that "Judge Garland's record demonstrates that he is essentially the model, neutral judge. He is acknowledged by all to be brilliant. His opinions avoid unnecessary, sweeping pronouncements."[14] Garland has "tended to take a broader view" of First Amendment rights.[14] In a number of split decisions on environmental law in the D.C. Circuit Court, Garland has "favored contested EPA regulations and actions when challenged by industry, and in other cases he has accepted challenges brought by environmental groups".[14] In cases involving the Freedom of Information Act and similar provisions related to government transparency, "Judge Garland's rulings reflect a preference for open government."[14]

In Whitman v. American Trucking Ass'ns, Inc. (2001), Judge Garland dissented from the denial of a rehearing.[14] The D.C. Circuit was then reversed by the Supreme Court, in an opinion by Justice Scalia.

Garland has opposed voting rights for DC residents, interpreting the matter as a political, not a constitutional, issue.[26] In the March 2000 ruling in the case of Alexander v. Daley he wrote the majority opinion that the District of Columbia is not a state, and the constitution grants congressional voting representation to state residents.[27]

In al Odah v. United States (2003), Judge Garland's panel unanimously held that federal courts could not hear challenges from prisoners in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp.[14] The Supreme Court reversed that decision in Rasul v. Bush (2004), over a dissent by Justice Scalia.[14] In 2007, Garland voted in favor of en banc review of the D.C. Circuit's panel decision in Parker v. District of Columbia invalidating the D.C. handgun ban, which the Supreme Court subsequently affirmed 5–4 in an opinion by Justice Scalia.[14] Some took that vote as indicative of a more restrictive view of gun rights,[28] but Goldstein commented, "Garland did not take a formal position on the merits of the case" and "even if he had concluded that the statute was constitutional, that view of the case would have conformed" to widespread views under-then existing Supreme Court precedent.[14]

On June 23, 2008, a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit made up of Garland, David B. Sentelle, and Thomas B. Griffith overturned the determination of Hufaiza Parhat's Combatant Status Review Tribunal.[29]

In Senate confirmation hearings held in December 1995 to consider Garland's nomination to the D.C. Circuit, Garland said that the Supreme Court justices whom he most admired were Justice Brennan, for whom he clerked, and Chief Justice John Marshall. Garland also expressed admiration for the writing style of Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes.[30]

He became chief judge on February 12, 2013.[31]

Supreme Court nomination

Main article: Merrick Garland Supreme Court nomination
File:Meet Merrick Garland, President Obama's Supreme Court Nominee.webm
Meet Merrick Garland, 3:01, White House video produced to promote Garland's Supreme Court nomination

Garland was considered twice for the Supreme Court (in 2009 and in 2010) before ultimately receiving a nomination in 2016.[32] In 2009, following the announcement by Justice David Souter that he would retire, Garland was considered as one of nine finalists for the post, which ultimately went to Sonia Sotomayor, then a judge of the Second Circuit.[33] After the April 2010 announcement by Justice John Paul Stevens that he would retire, Garland was again widely seen as a leading contender for a nomination to the Supreme Court of the United States.[34][35][36] President Barack Obama interviewed Garland, among others, for the vacancy.[25] In May, Senator Orrin G. Hatch, Republican of Utah, said he would help Obama if Garland was nominated, calling Garland "a consensus nominee" and predicting that Garland would win Senate confirmation with bipartisan support.[37][38] Obama nominated Solicitor General of the United States Elena Kagan, who was confirmed in August 2010.[25]

On February 13, 2016, Justice Antonin Scalia died.[39] The next day, Senate Republicans led by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell issued a statement that they would not consider any nominee put forth by Obama, saying that a Supreme Court nomination should be left to the next President.[40][41][42] Scholars and experts noted that such a refusal to consider a presidential Supreme Court nominee is unprecedented.[43][44] On March 4, The New York Times reported that Garland was being vetted by the Obama administration as a potential nominee. A week later, Garland was named as one of three judges on the President's "short list" (along with Judge Sri Srinivasan, also of the D.C. Circuit, and Judge Paul J. Watford of the Ninth Circuit). Obama interviewed all three leading contenders, as well as two others who were considered: Judge Jane L. Kelly of the Eighth Circuit and Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.[45] On March 16, Obama formally nominated Garland.[46][47] Garland has more federal judicial experience than any Supreme Court nominee in history,[48] and is the oldest Supreme Court nominee since Lewis F. Powell, Jr. in 1971.[49]

Memberships and committee service

Garland served as co-chair of the administrative law section of the District of Columbia Bar from 1991 to 1994.[12][50]

Garland is a member of the American Law Institute.[12]

In 2003, Garland was elected to the Harvard Board of Overseers, completing the unexpired term of Deval Patrick, who had stepped down from the board.[51] Garland served as president of the overseers for 2009–10.[52]

Personal life

Garland and his wife, Lynn, have been married since 1987. Lynn Garland's grandfather, Samuel Irving Rosenman, was a justice of the New York Supreme Court (a trial-level court) and a special counsel to Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman.[5] Garland and his wife have two daughters, Rebecca and Jessica; both are graduates of Yale University.[53]

Garland is a resident of Bethesda, Maryland.[54]

Selected publications

  • Garland, Merrick B. (1987). "Antitrust and State Action: Economic Efficiency and the Political Process". Yale Law Journal. 96 (3): 486–519. doi:10.2307/796502. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |authormask= ignored (|author-mask= suggested) (help)
  • Garland, Merrick B. (1985). "Deregulation and Judicial Review". Harvard Law Review. 98 (3): 505–591. doi:10.2307/1340869. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |authormask= ignored (|author-mask= suggested) (help)

See also

References

  1. ^ Sherman, Mark; Holland, Jesse J.; Pace, Julie (April 5, 2010). "Supreme Court prospects are Kagan, Wood, Garland". The Boston Globe. Associated Press. ISSN 0743-1791. Archived from the original on March 14, 2016. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  2. ^ Biographical Directory of the Federal Judiciary (Bernan Press, 2001), p. 511.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Nina Totenberg & Carrie Johnson, Merrick Garland Has A Reputation of Collegiality, Record of Republican Support, NPR (March 16, 2016).
  4. ^ a b Lynn Sweet, Obama Supreme Court pick: Chicago native Merrick Garland, Chicago Sun-Times (March 16, 2016).
  5. ^ a b "Lynn Rosenman is Married". The New York Times. September 20, 1987. Retrieved April 10, 2010.
  6. ^ "Garland". Chicago Tribune.
  7. ^ a b c Josh Nathan-Kazis, Merrick Garland Offers Poignant Story About Anti-Semitism as Supreme Court Battle Looms, The Forward (March 16, 2016).
  8. ^ McKinney, Kait (March 16, 2016). "Branstad Has Unique Connection to SCOTUS Nominee Merrick Garland". WHO-TV.
  9. ^ "145 in Chicago, Suburbs Awarded Merit Scholarships". Chicago Tribune.
  10. ^ "Nixon Urges Scholars to Take Active Role in Communities". Chicago Tribune.
  11. ^ a b "A Short List: Who Will Succeed Justice Stevens?". NPR. April 9, 2010.
  12. ^ a b c d e f Official Congressional Directory: 109th Congress: 2005-2006, p. 836.
  13. ^ a b "Biographical Information on Merrick Garland, Federal Judge". ABC News. Retrieved March 16, 2016.
  14. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Tom Goldstein, The Potential Nomination of Merrick Garland, SCOTUSBlog (April 26, 2010).
  15. ^ "Washington Insight". Los Angeles Times. July 6, 1995. Retrieved March 16, 2016.
  16. ^ Carol E. Lee, Kristina Peterson & Jess Bravin, Obama Picks Merrick Garland to Fill Supreme Court Seat, The Wall Street Journal (March 16, 2016).
  17. ^ a b c Charles Savage, How Bombing Case Helped Shape Career of a Potential Justice, The New York Times (April 27, 2010).
  18. ^ Ratings of Article III Judicial Nominees (105th Congress) (1997-1998, American Bar Association Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary.
  19. ^ 104 Hearings: Senate Committee Meetings by Date (1995) Template:Wayback
  20. ^ Lewis, Neil A. (November 30, 1995). "Partisan Gridlock Blocks Senate Confirmations of Federal Judges". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved March 16, 2016.
  21. ^ Clinton Foundation website Template:Wayback
  22. ^ "U.S. Senate: Roll Call Vote". U.S. Senate. January 27, 2015.
  23. ^ a b Wheaton, Sarah; Gerstein, Josh; Seung Min, Kim (March 16, 2016). "Obama picks Merrick Garland for Supreme Court". Politico. Retrieved March 16, 2016.
  24. ^ Amy Steigerwalt, Battle over the Bench: Senators, Interest Groups, and Lower Court Confirmations (University of Virginia Press, 2010), p. 224 n. 34.
  25. ^ a b c Shear, Michael D.; Harris, Gardiner (March 16, 2016). "Obama to Nominate Merrick Garland to Supreme Court". The New York Times. Retrieved March 16, 2016.
  26. ^ Cavendish, Steve (March 16, 2016). "Obama to Nominate Merrick Garland, Who Wrote Decision Opposing D.C. Voting Rights". The Washington City Paper. Washington DC. Retrieved March 18, 2016.
  27. ^ Perry, Stein (March 17, 2016). "Merrick Garland and D.C. politics: His role in voting rights and Marion Barry's imprisonment". The Washington Post. Washington DC. Retrieved March 18, 2016.
  28. ^ Burrus, Trevor (March 16, 2016). "Merrick Garland Is the Best Conservatives Could Hope For". Cato Institute. Retrieved March 16, 2016.
  29. ^ William Glaberson (June 24, 2008). "Court Voids Finding on Guantánamo Detainee". The New York Times. Retrieved June 24, 2008.
  30. ^ Palazzolo, Joe (March 16, 2016). "Judge Merrick Garland, In His Own Words". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved March 16, 2016.
  31. ^ Merrick B. Garland, United states Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (accessed March 16, 2016).
  32. ^ Gardiner Harris, For Garland, Third Time Was Charm, The New York Times (March 16, 2016).
  33. ^ Peter Baker & Adam Nagourney, Sotomayor Pick a Product of Lessons From Past Battles, The New York Times (May 27, 2009).
  34. ^ "Profiles of three possible successors to Justice John Paul Stevens". Los Angeles Times. April 10, 2010. Retrieved May 12, 2010.
  35. ^ White House Prepares for Possibility of 2 Supreme Court Vacancies, ABC News February 4, 2010
  36. ^ Jess Bravin, Democrats Divide on Voice of Possible Top-Court Pick Wall Street Journal (February 8, 2010)
  37. ^ "Republican would back Garland for Supreme Court". Reuters. May 6, 2010. Retrieved March 16, 2016.
  38. ^ Burr, Thomas (March 16, 2016). ""White House notes Hatch called Supreme Court nominee a 'consensus' pick in 2010"". Salt Lake Tribune. Salt Lake City. Retrieved March 16, 2016.
  39. ^ "Three More Judges Said to be Vetted for Supreme Court". The New York Times. March 4, 2016.
  40. ^ "McConnell throws down the gauntlet: No Scalia replacement under Obama". Politico. February 13, 2016.
  41. ^ Jonathan Chait, No, the Senate's Supreme Court Blockade Has Never Happened in American History, New York (February 23, 2016).
  42. ^ Michael McAuliff & Jennifer Bendery, Republican Admits Supreme Court Blockade Is Unprecedented, The Huffington Post (March 10, 2016).
  43. ^ "Statement of Constitutional Law Scholars on the Supreme Court Vacancy" (PDF). February 24, 2016. Letter from 33 professors of constitutional law, including Dean Erwin Chemerinsky of the University of California, Irvine School of Law; Adam Winkler of the UCLA School of Law; Kermit Roosevelt of the University of Pennsylvania School of Law, and Gene Nichol of the University of North Carolina School of Law
  44. ^ "Letter from the Experts: The President's Supreme Court Nominee Deserves a Chance". March 10, 2016. Letter from Thomas E. Mann, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution; Norman J. Ornstein, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute; presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin; Pamela S. Karlan of Stanford Law School; Yale Law School professor Harold Hongju Koh; Geoffrey R. Stone of the University of Chicago Law School; historian James M. McPherson of Princeton University, and various others.
  45. ^ Nina Totenberg, President Obama Meets With Supreme Court Candidates, NPR (March 8, 2016).
  46. ^ Shear, Michael D.; Harris, Gardiner (March 16, 2016). "Obama Chooses Merrick Garland for Supreme Court". The New York Times.
  47. ^ "President Obama nominates Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court". The Washington Post. March 16, 2016. {{cite news}}: Cite uses deprecated parameter |authors= (help)
  48. ^ Sarah Wheaton, Josh Gerstein & Seung Min Kim, Obama picks Merrick Garland for Supreme Court, Politico (March 16, 2016).
  49. ^ "Merrick Garland Is The Oldest Supreme Court Nominee Since Nixon Was President". FiveThirtyEight. March 16, 2016.
  50. ^ Biography: Hon. Merrick B. Garland, U.S. Court of Appeals, DC Circuit, Federalist Society (accessed March 16, 2016).
  51. ^ Harvard Board of Overseers announces election results, Harvard Gazette (June 12, 2003).
  52. ^ Board of Overseers elects senior officers, Harvard Gazette (April 23, 2009).
  53. ^ "Who is Merrick Garland?". CBS News. March 16, 2016. Retrieved March 16, 2016. {{cite news}}: Cite uses deprecated parameter |authors= (help)
  54. ^ Andrew Metcalf, Obama Nominates Bethesda Resident Merrick Garland to Serve on U.S. Supreme Court, Bethesda Magazine (March 16, 2016).

External links

Legal offices
Preceded by Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
1997–present 		Incumbent
Preceded by Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
2013–present
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Merrick_Garland&oldid=710880730"