Obama Nominates Centrist Merrick Garland to Supreme Court

UPDATED at 12:15 p.m.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Political theater has delivered on its promise. President Barack Obama on Wednesday nominated centrist jurist Merrick Garland for the U.S. Supreme Court, pledging to take on Republican leaders who have said they will allow the country to limp forward with an eight-member court until after the 2016 presidential election.

Garland is Chief Judge of the D.C. Circuit Court and won bipartisan confirmation to his federal position. Known as a thoughtful consensus-builder on the bench, he earned praise for leading the government's prosecution of the Oklahoma City bombing suspects.

In a Rose Garden ceremony, Obama introduced Garland as the judge's family and White House staff looked on, calling him exceptionally qualified to join the court.

He is “widely recognized not only as one of America’s sharpest legal minds, but someone who brings to his work a spirit of decency, modesty, integrity, even-handedness and excellence," the president said. "These qualities and his long commitment to public service have earned him the respect and admiration from leaders from both sides of the aisle.”

Republican Senate leaders have warned that not only will they refuse to approve any Obama nominee but also that they will not even hold hearings to consider his selection to fill the seat of Justice Antonin Scalia, who died in February.

Likely the most consequential decision of his Obama's last year in office, the campaign for a Supreme Court pick may feel like a presidential campaign.

“I said I would take this process seriously and I did. I chose a serious man and an exemplary judge, Merrick Garland,” the president said in his remarks.

But Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell said again Wednesday that the American people should have a say in the selection of a Supreme Court. The Senate will continue to observe what he called the Biden Rule, so the American people have a voice in this decision.

There is no such thing as a "Biden Rule" either in the Constitution or the rules of the Senate.

“Once the political season is under way … action on a Supreme Court nomination must be put off until after the election campaign is over. That is what is fair to the nominee and is central to the process,” Grassley said earlier in the Senate, repeating what Biden said during his days in the Senate.

The next president may nominate Justice Garland, or go in a different direction.

“Give the people a voice in filling this vacancy,” McConnell said.

Obama said Garland has been suggested for two previous Supreme Court vacancies by both Democrats and Republicans.

“It would be a betrayal of our best tradition, and a betrayal of our founding documents” to delay action on the nomination, Obama said.

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) agreed with McConnell in a statement about the president's nomination.

“This has never been about who the nominee is. It is about a basic principle," Ryan said. "Under our Constitution, the president has every right to make this nomination, and the Senate has every right not to confirm a nominee. I fully support Leader McConnell and Chairman Grassley's decision not to move forward with the confirmation process. We should let the American people decide the direction of the court."

The Supreme Court is supposed to be above politics, Obama said, while noting that politics has played a role in judicial appointments before. Some polls show that two-thirds of Americans believe the Senate should hold hearings and vote on Garland’s nomination.

“It will mean everything is subject to the most partisan of politics” if the Senate fails to act. “The reputation of the Supreme Court will suffer. Faith in our judicial system will ultimately suffer. I have fulfilled my Constitutional duty, now it’s time for the Senate to do theirs.”

Garland will begin meeting with senators on Thursday. While the Senate begins a two-week break tomorrow, Obama urged them to seriously consider the nomination and treat it fairly.

Grassley said in a statement after Garland spoke, "A lifetime appointment that could dramatically impact individual freedoms and change the direction of the court for at least a generation is too important to get bogged down in politics."

At the Rose Garden ceremony, President Obama shared this biography of his choice for the nation’s highest court:

Born in Chicago, his mother was a community volunteer and his father ran a small business. He earned a scholarship to Harvard, where he graduated summa cum laude, then worked his way through Harvard Law School – including selling his comic book collection to pay tuition, Obama said.

He took a 50 percent pay cut to leave private practice to become a federal prosecutor. “He quickly made a name for himself going after criminals and corrupt politicians.”

Garland oversaw the federal response to the Oklahoma City bombing, which killed 168 people. He led the prosecution of bomber Timothy McVeigh, ensuring that every legal step was followed so no technicalities could derail the case.

In his briefcase Garland carried the memorial service program for the Oklahoma City victims, listing each name, a reminder of his important task.

During his confirmation process to the DC Circuit, Garland received bipartisan support. Then-chairman of the Judiciary Committee Sen. Orin Hatch lauded Garland, who was confirmed by a majority from both parties.

Judge Garland is known for his diligence, compassion and as a thoughtful, fair-minded judge who follows the law. He can assemble coalitions and persuade colleagues from across the ideological spectrum to agree on judicial opinions, the president said.

Former colleague Supreme Court Justice John Roberts once said, “any time Judge Garland disagrees, you know you’re in a difficult area.”

A Twitter account has been launched @SCOTUSnom. And Republican Senate members in tough election campaigns can expect pressure from the White House, Democratic opponents and outside groups.

The president stressed his nominee is a "consensus candidate" who can be supported by Republicans and Democrats.

A tweet from the GOP's official Twitter account indicated the fight was far from over.

"Lame duck POTUS is doing us a disservice w/ attempt to tip balance of #SCOTUS in the 11th hr," the account tweeted shortly after the nomination was announced.

The other leading contenders were Judge Sri Srinivasan of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia and Judge Paul Watford, of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Biography of Merrick Garland

Garland, 63, is a Harvard Law School who clerked for Justice William Brennan, and worked as a prosecutor and in private practice at Arnold & Porter, where he was named a partner. He also taught antitrust at Harvard Law School in 1986.

His positions in the Justice Department included a leadership role in the department’s criminal division and a stint as principal associate deputy attorney general.

A drawn-out battle in the mid-1990s delayed Garland’s confirmation to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit by more than a year, says SCOTUS blog. Senator Chuck Grassley -- the Iowa Republican who heads the Senate Judiciary Committee and has said he will not schedule hearings this year to fill Scalia’s seat -- argued in the ‘90s that the vacancy should not be filled.

Think Progress says Garland is the oldest person nominated to the Supreme Court since President Nixon named Justice Lewis Powell in 1971.

Republicans are holding out on considering the nominee because of the consequences of the pick. Scalia was a leading conservative on the bench. Many observers expect the most controversial topics in front of the court will split 4-4, so the next voice added to the court could tip that scale toward liberal decisions for the first time in decades.

Photos: Screenhots of President Obama with Justice Merrick Garland from White House YouTube channel; Supreme Court building from Thuresson, Wikimedia Commons