The confirmation of a Supreme Court Justice is a solemn responsibility that the President and the Senate share under the U.S. Constitution. It is not a political opportunity that reflects “left” or “right,” Democrat or Republican. It’s a serious obligation to make sure that an indisputably qualified person of integrity is nominated and confirmed to sit on the highest court in the land.

The passing of Justice Antonin Scalia has left a vacancy that must be filled and President Obama has a Constitutional responsibility to nominate someone to take his place. As the President said, any politician who claims to be a strict reader of the Constitution and then claims that there are restrictions on when the President should fulfill this duty is misleading the American people.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/scotus



Judge Merrick Garland is the nominee!

Originally posted by IcarusIsFlying I'll be mad if he caves to Republican pressure and picks someone right-leaning

Originally posted by The Countess AP says it is Merrick Garland

Originally posted by The Countess AP says it is Merrick Garland

Originally posted by Radiance Would prefer Sri, who could float into liberal territory. Merrick is just too solid moderate.

Originally posted by Mickey Having a moderate replace Scalia is a huge swing left for the court.

Judge 97-0, please.


But I actually wouldn't mind Merrick, tbh. He better reflects the ideology I grew up with.

Originally posted by Radiance Knee-jerk from pundits is that Merrick is taking one for the team. Obama recognizes that a nominee will never be confirmed, and Merrick has been nominated for the sake of it (and also to protect Srivanasan and Watford for future nominations).

Garland is unquestionably qualified to sit on the Supreme Court. A 19 year veteran of the DC Circuit — a court that is widely viewed as the second-most powerful in the nation — Garland graduated with high honors from Harvard Law School. He clerked for Justice William Brennan, and spent a few years as a partner in the multinational law firm Arnold and Porter. He also held senior positions in the Justice Department, including a leadership role in the department’s criminal division and a stint as Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General. At age 63, Garland is also the oldest person nominated to the Supreme Court since President Nixon named Justice Lewis Powell in 1971. Thus, if confirmed, Garland is unlikely to match — or even approach — Justice Scalia’s nearly 30 years on the Supreme Court. Garland’s relatively advanced age may help explain why Hatch floated the DC Circuit chief judge as his ideal Obama nominee. Another factor that almost certainly played a role is Garland’s reputation for moderation. In 2003, for example, Garland joined an opinion holding that the federal judiciary lacks the authority “to assert habeas corpus jurisdiction at the behest of an alien held at a military base leased from another nation, a military base outside the sovereignty of the United States” — an opinion that effectively prohibited Guantanamo Bay detainees from seeking relief in civilian courts. A little over a year later, the Supreme Court reversed this decision in Rasul v. Bush. Although, in fairness, it should be noted that legal experts disagree about whether the decision Garland joined was mandated by existing precedents. The former prosecutor also has a relatively conservative record on criminal justice. A 2010 examination of his decisions by SCOTUSBlog’s Tom Goldstein determined that “Judge Garland rarely votes in favor of criminal defendants’ appeals of their convictions.” Goldstein “identified only eight such published rulings,” in addition to seven where “he voted to reverse the defendant’s sentence in whole or in part, or to permit the defendant to raise a argument relating to sentencing on remand,” during the 13 years Garland had then spent on the DC Circuit.

Originally posted by Pokistic Who Is Merrick Garland? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merrick_Garland

To be clear, Garland’s record does not suggest that he would join the Court’s right flank if confirmed to the Supreme Court. He would likely vote much more often than not with the Supreme Court’s liberals, while occasionally casting a heterodox vote.