D.C. Chief Judge Garland Announced As Supreme Court Nominee

FILE – In this May 1, 2008, file photo, Judge Merrick B. Garland is seen at the federal courthouse in Washington. President Obama is expected to nominate Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is nominating federal appeals court judge Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court, to fill the seat that was held by the late Antonin Scalia.

In doing so, he’s challenging Republicans to reject a long-time jurist and former prosecutor who’s become known as a consensus builder on what is often dubbed the nation’s second-highest court.

Garland, who is 63, is the chief judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. It’s a court whose influence over federal policy and national security matters has made it a proving ground for potential Supreme Court justices.

Obama said Garland would bring integrity, modesty and even-handedness to the Supreme Court.

Garland was visibly emotional as he accepted President Obama’s nomination in the White House Rose Garden with his family watching. He said being nominated by Obama is the greatest honor of his life, other than marrying his wife.

One Democratic senator says Garland is a “bipartisan choice” for the Supreme Court. And Chuck Schumer of New York asks, “If the Republicans can’t support him, who can they support?”

Republicans who control the Senate say they want to leave the choice of a justice to the next president.

In a speech on the Senate floor on Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) made it clear that the GOP-led Senate will not consider Garland, but will wait until after the next president is in place.

McConnell said the view of the GOP is “give the people a voice in the filling of this vacancy.”

In a statement issued just after Garland spoke in the White House Rose Garden, Republican Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley said “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.”

Obama said Garland would be making the customary visit to Capitol Hill to meet with senators on Thursday. The Senate is planning a two-week break at the end of the week.