Merrick Garland

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Merrick Garland
Merrick Garland.jpg
Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
Assumed office
February 12, 2013
Preceded by David Sentelle
Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
Assumed office
March 20, 1997
Appointed by Bill Clinton
Preceded by Abner Mikva
Personal details
Born Merrick Brian Garland
(1952-11-13) November 13, 1952 (age 63)
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Political party Democratic
Spouse(s) Lynn Rosenman (m. 1987)
Children Rebecca (b. 1991)
Jessica (b. 1993)
Alma mater Harvard University
Religion Judaism[1]

Merrick Brian Garland (born November 13, 1952) 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.

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[edit]

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)[5] 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.[3][6][7] Born to a Jewish family, Garland was raised in Conservative Judaism.[7] Both his parents attended the University of Chicago.[8] 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.[9]

Education and legal training[edit]

Garland attended Niles West High School in Skokie, Illinois, where he was president of the student council, acted in theatrical productions, and was a member of the debate team.[10] He graduated in 1970 as the class valedictorian.[3][4] Garland was also a Presidential Scholar and a National Merit Scholar.[11][12]

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][13][14] Garland allied himself with his future boss, Jamie Gorelick, when he was elected the only freshman on a campus side committee.[8] During his college summers Garland volunteered as Congressman Abner J. Mikva’s speechwriter.[8] After President Carter later made Mikva a judge on the D.C. Circuit, Mikva would rely on Garland when selecting clerks.[15] At Harvard, Garland wrote news articles and theater reviews for the Harvard Crimson and worked as a Quincy House tutor.[16][17]

Garland then attended Harvard Law School, graduating with a J.D. magna cum laude in 1977.[13] During law school, Garland was a member of the Harvard Law Review, serving as an articles editor from 1976 to 1977.[14] As an articles editor, Garland assigned himself to edit a submission by Justice William J. Brennan, Jr.[15]

Following graduation, Garland 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 Brennan of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1978 to 1979.[14]

Department of Justice and private practice[edit]

Garland was special assistant to Attorney General Benjamin Civiletti from 1979 to 1981.[3] After the Carter administration ended in 1991, Garland joined the law firm Arnold & Porter as an associate, and was a partner at the firm from 1985 to 1989.[3][18] While at Arnold & Porter, the white shoe firm founded by Justice Abe Fortas, Garland mostly practiced corporate litigation.[3] In Motor Vehicles Manufacturers Ass'n v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. (1983) Garland acted as counsel to an insurance company suing to reinstate an unpopular automatic seat belt mandate.[19] After winning the case in both the D.C. Circuit and the Supreme Court, Garland would write an eighty-seven page Harvard Law Review article urging courts to use a heightened "hard look" standard of review whenever an agency chooses deregulation.[19] In 1985-86, while at Arnold & Porter, Garland was a lecturer in law at Harvard Law School, where he taught antitrust law.[14][20] He has also published an article in the Yale Law Journal urging a broader application of antitrust immunity to state and local governments.[21]

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 was one of three principal prosecutors who handled the investigation into Washington, D.C. mayor Marion Barry's possession of cocaine.[22]

Garland then briefly returned to Arnold & Porter, working there from 1992 to 1993.[18] 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[23]—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 Unabomber prosecution, and the Atlanta Olympics bombings investigations.[3][24] 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.[25]

Garland represented the government at the preliminary hearings of the two main defendants in the Oklahoma City case, Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols.[25] 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.[25] Garland won praise for his work on the case from the Republican governor of Oklahoma, Frank Keating.[3]

Appointment to the D.C. Circuit[edit]

On September 6, 1995, President Bill Clinton nominated Garland to the D.C. Circuit seat vacated by his longtime mentor Abner J. Mikva. The American Bar Association (ABA) Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary gave Garland a "unanimously well-qualified" committee rating, its highest.[26]

On December 1, 1995, Garland received a hearing before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee.[27] In Senate confirmation hearings 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.[28] 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 the seat.[20][29]

After winning the November 1996 presidential election, Clinton renominated Garland on January 7, 1997.[30] Garland's confirmation vote came to floor of the Republican controlled Senate on March 19, 1997. He was confirmed in a 76–23 vote and received his judicial commission the next day.[31] The majority of Republican senators voted to confirm Garland, including Senators John McCain, Orrin Hatch, Susan Collins, and Jim Inhofe.[32] Senators Mitch McConnell, Chuck Grassley, and Jeff Sessions were among those who voted against Garland.[32] 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.[33]

Service on the D.C. Circuit[edit]

Garland is considered a judicial moderate and a centrist.[34] 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."[20] Garland has a reputation for collegiality, and his opinions rarely draw a dissent.[35] Likewise, Garland has only written fifteen dissents in his two decades on the court.[35] For comparison, Judge Brett Kavanaugh has written seventeen dissents in the past decade.[35]

While on the bench, Garland has proven to be deferential to the government in criminal cases, siding with prosecutors in ten of the fourteen criminal cases in which he disagreed with a colleague.[36] For example, in United States v. Watson (1999), Garland dissented from the court's conclusion that the prosecutor's closing argument was unduly prejudicial.[37]

Garland has been likewise deferential to regulatory agencies. For example, in In re Aiken County (2013), Garland dissented from the D.C. Circuit's issuance of mandamus ordering the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to process the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository license.[37] In Americans for Safe Access v. Drug Enforcement Administration (2013), Garland joined the majority in a 2-1 judgment upholding the DEA's classification of marijuana as a Schedule I drug.[10] However, in a number of split decisions on environmental law in the D.C. Circuit, Garland "favored contested EPA regulations and actions when challenged by industry, and in other cases he has accepted challenges brought by environmental groups."[20] In Whitman v. American Trucking Ass'ns, Inc. (2001), Garland dissented from the denial of a rehearing en banc.[20] The judgment of the D.C. Circuit was then reversed by the Supreme Court, in an opinion by Justice Scalia. In Rancho Viejo, LLC v. Norto (2003), Garland found the arroyo toad was protected by the federal Endangered Species Act.[38] (Then-Circuit Judge John Roberts dissented from the denial of rehearing en banc, writing that Congress's interstate commerce power cannot reach "a hapless toad that, for reasons of its own, lives its entire life in California").[39]

Garland has been outspoken in cases involving political corruption. In 2007, Garland dissented when the en banc D.C. Circuit reversed the conviction of a Washington, D.C. police officer who had accepted bribes in an FBI sting operation.[40] In 1998, Garland used legislative history to justify applying the whistleblower protection law to Howard University.[20] In 2004 then-Judge John Roberts employed textualism when refusing to extend that precedent to Amtrak, prompting a lengthy dissent by Garland.[40] Roberts justified his narrow reading by citing a book by Circuit Judge Henry Friendly.[41] In dissent, Garland (who like Roberts had clerked for Friendly), cited Friendly’s book as supporting the use of legislative intent.[40] Garland wrote that Roberts was relying on "'canons' of statutory construction, which serve here as 'cannons' of statutory destruction."[42] During confirmation hearings the next year Senator Chuck Grassley would sharply question Roberts on why he hadn’t adopted Garland’s reading.[40]

During Garland's tenure, the D.C. Circuit often has reviewed cases involving legal issues arising from the War on Terror. In al Odah v. United States (2003), a panel that included Garland unanimously held that federal courts could not hear challenges from prisoners in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp.[20] The Supreme Court reversed that decision in Rasul v. Bush (2004), over a dissent by Justice Scalia.[20] In Parhat v. Gates (2008), Garland wrote for a unanimous panel that overturned the Combatant Status Review Tribunal's determination that a captured Uyghur was an enemy combatant.[43] In 2009, Garland authored a lengthy dissent when the D.C. Circuit found sovereign immunity protected private contractors who had participated in the Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuses from lawsuits.[37]

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.[20] Some took that vote as indicative of a more restrictive view of gun rights,[44] 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.[20]

In Alexander v. Daley (2003), Garland joined a decision (authored by Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly), rejecting a challenge brought by District of Columbia residents seeking D.C. congressional voting rights. The majority opinion noted: "Many courts have found a contradiction between the democratic ideals upon which this country was founded and the exclusion of District residents from congressional representation. All, however, have concluded that it is the Constitution and judicial precedent that create the contradiction."[45][22]

Garland has "tended to take a broader view" of First Amendment rights.[20] 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."[20] When in 2005 the D.C. Circuit forced reporters to testify in the Wen Ho Lee investigation, Garland wrote a dissent from the denial of rehearing en banc.[46] In Hutchins v. District of Columbia (1999) (en banc), Garland joined the majority in striking down the District's particular juvenile curfew law as unconstitutional (although the court did not rule that curfews in general were unconstitutional).[22]

Garland became chief judge of the D.C. Circuit on February 12, 2013.[47]

Potential Supreme Court justice[edit]

Garland with Barack Obama at his Supreme Court nomination, 2016.

Garland was considered twice for the Supreme Court, in 2009 and in 2010, before being nominated in 2016.[48]

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.[49]

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.[50][51][52] President Barack Obama interviewed Garland, among others, for the vacancy.[34] In May 2010, 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.[53][54] Obama nominated Solicitor General of the United States Elena Kagan, who was confirmed in August 2010.[34]

Scalia vacancy and Garland nomination[edit]

Main article: Merrick Garland Supreme Court nomination

On February 13, 2016, Justice Antonin Scalia died.[55] 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.[56][57][58]

A number of scholars and experts have said that such a refusal to consider a presidential Supreme Court nominee is unprecedented.[59][60] On the other hand, the Washington Post has examined the history of Supreme Court nominations during the last year of a presidency, and concluded that "Nearly 200 years ago, the Senate made it clear that it was not required to act on a Supreme Court nomination."[61]

Meet Merrick Garland, 3:01, White House video promoting Garland's Supreme Court nomination

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 being 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.[62]

On March 11, 2016 (five days before President Obama nominated Judge Garland), Senator Hatch predicted that President Obama would "name someone the [liberal Democratic base] wants" even though he "could easily name Merrick Garland, who is a fine man."[63][64] On March 16, Obama formally nominated Garland.[65][66]

Garland has more federal judicial experience than any Supreme Court nominee in history,[32] and is the oldest Supreme Court nominee since Lewis F. Powell, Jr. in 1971.[67]

Memberships and committee service[edit]

Garland served as co-chair of the administrative law section of the District of Columbia Bar from 1991 to 1994.[14][68]

Garland is a member of the American Law Institute.[14]

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.[69] Garland served as president of the overseers for 2009–10.[70]

Personal life[edit]

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.[6] Garland and his wife have two daughters, Rebecca and Jessica; both are graduates of Yale University.[71]

Garland is a resident of Bethesda, Maryland.[72] Garland’s financial disclosures indicate he may be worth up to $23 million.[15] Garland is colorblind so he uses a list to match his suits and ties.[15] In 2000 Garland performed the Nantucket marriage ceremony between his former top aid, Beth Wilkinson, and television journalist David Gregory.[15]

Selected publications[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  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. 
  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. ^ "Garland (obituary)". Chicago Tribune. November 27, 2000. 
  6. ^ a b "Lynn Rosenman is Married". The New York Times. September 20, 1987. Retrieved April 10, 2010. 
  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. ^ a b c Goldstein, Amy; Hamburger, Tom (27 March 2016). "For Merrick Garland, a methodical life of ambition". The Washington Post. p. A1. Retrieved 29 March 2016. 
  9. ^ McKinney, Kait (March 16, 2016). "Branstad Has Unique Connection to SCOTUS Nominee Merrick Garland". WHO-TV. 
  10. ^ a b Stolberg, Sheryl Gay; Liptak, Adam (March 16, 2016). "Merrick Garland's Path to Nomination Marked by Deference, With Limits". The New York Times. p. A1. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved March 20, 2016. 
  11. ^ "145 in Chicago, Suburbs Awarded Merit Scholarships". Chicago Tribune. 
  12. ^ "Nixon Urges Scholars to Take Active Role in Communities". Chicago Tribune. 
  13. ^ a b "A Short List: Who Will Succeed Justice Stevens?". NPR. April 9, 2010. 
  14. ^ a b c d e f Official Congressional Directory: 109th Congress: 2005-2006, p. 836.
  15. ^ a b c d e Stolberg, Sheryl Gay; Apuzzo, Matt; Seelye, Katharine Q. (27 March 2016). "Merrick Garland Is a Deft Navigator of Washington's Legal Circles". The New York Times. p. A1. Retrieved 29 March 2016. 
  16. ^ Claire E. Parker, Supreme Court Nominee Maintains Close Harvard Ties, Harvard Crimson (March 17, 2016).
  17. ^ Andy Rosen & John R. Ellement, Obama Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland has strong ties to Harvard University, Boston Globe (March 16, 2016).
  18. ^ a b "Biographical Information on Merrick Garland, Federal Judge". ABC News. Retrieved March 16, 2016. 
  19. ^ a b Merrick B. Garland, Deregulation and Judicial Review, 98 Harv. L. Rev. 505 (1985).
  20. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Tom Goldstein, "The Potential Nomination of Merrick Garland", SCOTUSBlog (April 26, 2010).
  21. ^ Merrick B. Garland, Antitrust and State Action: Economic Efficiency and the Political Process, 96 Yale L.J. 486 (1987).
  22. ^ a b c Perry, Stein (17 March 2016). "Merrick Garland and D.C. politics: His role in voting rights and Marion Barry's imprisonment". The Washington Post (Washington DC). Retrieved 18 March 2016. 
  23. ^ "Washington Insight". Los Angeles Times. July 6, 1995. Retrieved March 16, 2016. 
  24. ^ Carol E. Lee, Kristina Peterson & Jess Bravin, "Obama Picks Merrick Garland to Fill Supreme Court Seat", The Wall Street Journal (March 16, 2016).
  25. ^ a b c Charles Savage, "How Bombing Case Helped Shape Career of a Potential Justice", The New York Times (April 27, 2010).
  26. ^ "Ratings of Article III Judicial Nominees (105th Congress) (1997-1998", American Bar Association Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary.
  27. ^ "104th Congress (1995 - 1996): January 4, 1995 - January 3, 1996: Senate Committee Meetings by Date". January 4, 1995. Archived from the original on November 10, 2005. 
  28. ^ Palazzolo, Joe (March 16, 2016). "Judge Merrick Garland, In His Own Words". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved March 16, 2016. 
  29. ^ 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. 
  30. ^ "President Nominates Twenty Two to the Federal Bench" (Press release). The White House. January 7, 1997. Archived from the original on 10 March 2005. 
  31. ^ "U.S. Senate: Roll Call Vote". U.S. Senate. January 27, 2015. 
  32. ^ a b c Wheaton, Sarah; Gerstein, Josh; Seung Min, Kim (March 16, 2016). "Obama picks Merrick Garland for Supreme Court". Politico. Retrieved March 16, 2016. 
  33. ^ Amy Steigerwalt, Battle over the Bench: Senators, Interest Groups, and Lower Court Confirmations (University of Virginia Press, 2010), p. 224 n. 34.
  34. ^ 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. 
  35. ^ a b c Taylor, Tom P. (8 March 2016). "Garland Brings Centrist Flair to D.C. Circuit With Laissez-Faire Approach to Agency Action". Bloomberg BNA United States Law Week. Retrieved 24 March 2016. 
  36. ^ Savage, Charlie (23 March 2016). "In Criminal Rulings, Garland Has Usually Sided With Law Enforcement". The New York Times. pp. A13. Retrieved 24 March 2016. 
  37. ^ a b c Nielson, Aaron (16 March 2016). "D.C. Circuit Review – Reviewed: Brooding Spirits, C.J. Garland Edition by Aaron Nielson". Yale Journal on Regulation. Retrieved 21 March 2016. 
  38. ^ Nielson, Aaron (18 March 2016). "D.C. Circuit Review – Reviewed: More Brooding Spirits, C.J. Garland Edition, by Aaron Nielson". Yale Journal on Regulation. Retrieved 21 March 2016. 
  39. ^ Rancho Viejo, LLC v. Norton, 334 F.3d 1158 (D.C. Cir. 2003) (Roberts, J., dissenting from denial of rehearing en banc).
  40. ^ a b c d Barnes, Robert (18 March 2015). "The respectful disagreements of Judge Merrick Garland". The Washington Post. Retrieved 23 March 2016. 
  41. ^ US ex rel. Totten v. Bombardier Corp., 380 F.3d 488 (D.C. Cir. 2004) (citing Henry J. Friendly, Benchmarks (1967)).
  42. ^ Palazzolo, Joe (17 March 2016). "Judge Garland's Career in Dissent". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 23 March 2016. 
  43. ^ William Glaberson (June 24, 2008). "Court Voids Finding on Guantánamo Detainee". The New York Times. Retrieved June 24, 2008. 
  44. ^ Burrus, Trevor (March 16, 2016). "Merrick Garland Is the Best Conservatives Could Hope For". Cato Institute. Retrieved March 16, 2016. 
  45. ^ Cavendish, Steve (16 March 2016). "Obama to Nominate Merrick Garland, Who Wrote Decision Opposing D.C. Voting Rights". The Washington City Paper (Washington DC). Retrieved 18 March 2016. 
  46. ^ Liptak, Adam (18 March 2016). "Where Merrick Garland Stands: A Close Look at His Judicial Record". The New York Times. pp. A1. Retrieved 24 March 2016. 
  47. ^ Merrick B. Garland, United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (accessed March 16, 2016).
  48. ^ Gardiner Harris, "For Garland, Third Time Was Charm", The New York Times (March 16, 2016).
  49. ^ Peter Baker & Adam Nagourney, "Sotomayor Pick a Product of Lessons From Past Battles", The New York Times (May 27, 2009).
  50. ^ "Profiles of three possible successors to Justice John Paul Stevens". Los Angeles Times. April 10, 2010. Retrieved May 12, 2010. 
  51. ^ "White House Prepares for Possibility of 2 Supreme Court Vacancies", ABC News February 4, 2010
  52. ^ Jess Bravin, "Democrats Divide on Voice of Possible Top-Court Pick" The Wall Street Journal (February 8, 2010)
  53. ^ "Republican would back Garland for Supreme Court". Reuters. May 6, 2010. Retrieved March 16, 2016. 
  54. ^ 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. 
  55. ^ "Three More Judges Said to be Vetted for Supreme Court". The New York Times. March 4, 2016. 
  56. ^ "McConnell throws down the gauntlet: No Scalia replacement under Obama". Politico. February 13, 2016. 
  57. ^ Jonathan Chait, No, the Senate's Supreme Court Blockade Has Never Happened in American History, New York (February 23, 2016).
  58. ^ Michael McAuliff & Jennifer Bendery, Republican Admits Supreme Court Blockade Is Unprecedented, The Huffington Post (March 10, 2016).
  59. ^ "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 
  60. ^ "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. 
  61. ^ Kessler, Glenn. "Does the Senate have a constitutional responsibility to consider a Supreme Court nomination?", Washington Post (March 16, 2016).
  62. ^ Nina Totenberg, President Obama Meets With Supreme Court Candidates, NPR (March 8, 2016).
  63. ^ Gizzi, John (March 13, 2016). "Orrin Hatch Says GOP Scotus Refusal Just 'The Chickens Coming Home to Roost'". NewsMax. 
  64. ^ Shepherd, Alex (March 16, 2016). "Minutes". The New Republic. 
  65. ^ Shear, Michael D.; Harris, Gardiner (March 16, 2016). "Obama Chooses Merrick Garland for Supreme Court". The New York Times. 
  66. ^ Juliet Eilperin, Mike DeBonis and Jerry Markon (March 16, 2016). "President Obama nominates Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court". The Washington Post. 
  67. ^ "Merrick Garland Is The Oldest Supreme Court Nominee Since Nixon Was President". FiveThirtyEight. March 16, 2016. 
  68. ^ "Biography: Hon. Merrick B. Garland, U.S. Court of Appeals, DC Circuit", Federalist Society (accessed March 16, 2016).
  69. ^ "Harvard Board of Overseers announces election results", Harvard Gazette (June 12, 2003).
  70. ^ "Board of Overseers elects senior officers", Harvard Gazette (April 23, 2009).
  71. ^ Reena Flores & Rebecca Shabad (March 16, 2016). "Who is Merrick Garland?". CBS News. Retrieved March 16, 2016. 
  72. ^ Andrew Metcalf, "Obama Nominates Bethesda Resident Merrick Garland to Serve on U.S. Supreme Court", Bethesda Magazine (March 16, 2016).

External links[edit]

Legal offices
Preceded by
Abner Mikva		 Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
1997–present		 Incumbent
Preceded by
David Sentelle		 Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
2013–present
Authority control
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Merrick_Garland&oldid=712482063"