US President Barack Obama Nominates Merrick Garland to US Supreme Court Wednesday March 16,2016

US President Barack Obama on Wednesday March 16,2016 nominated Merrick B. Garland (63)to be the USA’s 113th Supreme Court Justice, choosing a centrist appellate judge who could reshape the court for a generation and become the face of a bitter election-year confirmation struggle.

In choosing Judge Merrick Garland, a former prosecutor who has served on the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit since 1997 and as its chief judge since 2013, US President Barack Obama opted to select a jurist better known for his meticulous work ethic and adherence to legal principles than for an ideological bent.

In selecting Judge Merrick Garland, a well-known figure in Washington legal circles who has drawn praise from members of both parties, US President Barack Obama dared Republican senators to ignore public pressure and make good on their promise to block consideration of any nominee until after the next president is chosen.

The nomination to fill the seat on the court created by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia on Saturday Feb 13,2016  sets in motion a standoff that is likely to play out for many months, perhaps without resolution. 

Its outcome could tip the ideological balance of the nation’s highest court, and an array of well-financed interest groups on both sides has already assembled for the battle over the nomination.

“I’ve selected a nominee who 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,” US President Barack Obama said in a formal Rose Garden ceremony announcing his selection, where the president was flanked by Judge Merrick Garland and Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. “Presidents do not stop working in the final year of their term; neither should a senator.”

Republicans quickly rejected Mr. Obama’s challenge. Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, appeared on the Senate floor shortly after the president’s remarks to declare an end to Judge Garland’s nomination, no matter his qualifications. 

In case there was any doubt, Mr. McConnell later called Judge Garland personally to say he would not be receiving him in his Capitol office, nor taking any action on his nomination.

“The American people may well elect a president who decides to nominate Judge Garland for Senate consideration,” Mr. McConnell said on the Senate floor.

 “The next president may also nominate someone very different. Either way, our view is this: Give the people a voice in the filling of this vacancy.”

Note
Justice Antonin Scalia was appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1986 and was the longest-serving current justice on the Supreme Court

Scalia (front, second from left) was nominated to the US Supreme Court in 1986 by President Ronald Reagan and is the longest-serving justice on the Court

Ronald Reagan announces Scalia's nomination to the Supreme Court on June 17, 1986

Seventeen of the first 25 people to sit on the Supreme Court died as acting justices. Of the first 57 -- the first half of all of those to have been on the Supreme Court -- 38 died while on the bench. Of the second 57, only 12 died while on the bench.

The last, prior to Antonin Scalia, who died at some point Friday night or Saturday morning, was Chief Justice William Rehnquist, who died in 2005. Prior to that, the last justice to die while on the bench was Fred Vinson, who died in 1953 -- also while chief justice.