“Judge Garland has earned a track record of building consensus as a thoughtful, fair-minded judge who follows the law,” the president said Wednesday morning.
As a prosecutor, Garland oversaw the Unabomber and Oklahoma City bombing trials. He’s been considered for the Supreme Court twice before, but not nominated.
“For me there could be no higher public service than serving as a member of the United States Supreme Court,” Garland said in response to the nomination.
Garland would replace Justice Antonin Scalia, who died suddenly last month, leaving the court evenly split with four liberals and four conservatives.
Senate Republicans say the next president should choose that deciding vote. They’ve vowed not to even hold confirmation hearings.
“It seems clear that President Obama made this nomination not, not with the intent of seeing the nominee confirmed, but in order to politicize it for purposes of the election,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said.
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