President Barack Obama selected Merrick Garland for the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday, choosing a centrist judge meant to win over recalcitrant Senate Republicans whose leaders wasted no time in spurning the Democratic president.
By Jeff Mason and Richard Cowan
(via Reuters Media Express)
Image Attribute: Judge Merrick Garland, / Source: Wikipedia
WASHINGTON
(Reuters) - President Barack Obama selected Merrick Garland for the U.S.
Supreme Court on Wednesday, choosing a centrist judge meant to win over
recalcitrant Senate Republicans whose leaders wasted no time in spurning the
Democratic president.
Garland,
63, was picked to replace long-serving conservative Justice Antonin Scalia, who
died on Feb. 13. The Chicago native serves as chief judge of the influential
U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and is a former
prosecutor who has won praise from both Republicans and Democrats in the past.
A bruising
political fight is looming over the nomination, with the Republican-led
Senate's leaders vowing not to hold confirmation hearings or an up-or-down vote
on any Obama nominee.
The
lifetime appointment to the high court requires Senate confirmation.
Republicans,
hoping a candidate from their party will win the Nov. 8 presidential election,
are demanding that Obama leave the seat vacant and let his successor, to be
sworn in next January, make the selection. Businessman and former reality TV
star Donald Trump is leading among Republicans for the nomination and Obama's
former secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, is the front-runner on the
Democratic side.
At a
ceremony in the White House Rose Garden, Obama said if Republican senators
refused to give Garland a fair hearing, "then it will not only be an
abdication of the Senate’s constitutional duty, it will indicate a process for
nominating and confirming judges that is beyond repair."
Obama said
such a move would undermine the reputation of the Supreme Court and faith in
the American justice system. "Our democracy will ultimately suffer as
well," Obama added.
Without
Scalia, the nine-member Supreme Court is evenly split with four liberals and
four conservative justices. Obama's nominee could tilt the court to the left
for the first time in decades, which could affect rulings on contentious issues
including a woman's right to choose an abortion, gun rights and political
spending.
Obama said
the Supreme Court was supposed to be above politics and he wanted it to remain
so.
"At a
time when our politics are so polarized, at a time when norms and customs of
political rhetoric and courtesy and comity are so often treated like they’re
disposable, this is precisely the time when we should play it straight, and treat
the process of appointing a Supreme Court justice with the seriousness and care
it deserves," Obama said.
Garland
would become the fourth Jewish member of the nine-member court. There are five
Roman Catholics on the court. Obama considered but passed over Garland when he
made two prior Supreme Court appointments.
Senate
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky swiftly reiterated that the Senate
will not consider the nomination by the Democratic president whose term ends
next January.
"It
seems clear that President Obama made this nomination not with the intent of
seeing the nominee confirmed, but in order to politicize it for purposes of the
election," McConnell said on the Senate floor.
Garland is
widely viewed as a moderate. He is a former prosecutor who served in the
Justice Department under Democratic President Bill Clinton. He oversaw the
prosecution in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing case including securing the death
penalty for the lead defendant, anti-government militant Timothy McVeigh.
In his
current post, he is known for narrow, centrist opinions and rhetoric that is
measured rather than inflammatory even when in dissent.
'ASSURING
VICTIMS'
During the
Rose Garden appearance, Garland referred to the Oklahoma City bombing case,
saying, "Once again, I saw the importance of assuring victims and families
that the justice system could work."
Some cracks
in McConnell’s strategy of completely shutting out the nominee were on display.
A handful of Republican senators including Susan Collins, Kelly Ayotte and Jeff
Flake said they would be willing to meet with Garland.
Collins
added that she thought the Senate Judiciary Committee should hold confirmation
hearings.
Judiciary
Committee member Orrin Hatch, whose past support of Garland was cited by Obama,
said the pick does not change his view "at this point" that no Obama
nominee should be considered.
Like Ayotte
facing a tough re-election fight in his home state this year, Senator Mark Kirk
of Illinois said, "I will assess Judge Merrick Garland based on his record
and qualifications."
"Should
Merrick Garland be nominated again by the next president, I would be happy to
carefully consider his nomination," said Senator Pat Toomey of
Pennsylvania, also in a tough re-election battle.
Obama said
he hoped the Senate would vote to confirm Garland in time for him to join the
court when it gets to work for its 2016-1017 term in October, adding Garland
would start meeting with senators one-on-one on Thursday.
"Presidents
do not stop working in the final year of their term. Neither should a
senator," Obama added.
Obama
called Garland one of America's sharpest legal minds who possesses "a
spirit of decency, modesty, integrity, even-handedness and excellence."
"If
Merrick Garland can't get bipartisan support no one can," Democratic
Senator Charles Schumer said.
Standing in
between Obama and Vice President Joe Biden during the Rose Garden ceremony,
Garland told Obama it was a great privilege to be nominated to the high court
by a fellow Chicagoan.
Garland was
named to his current job by Democratic President Bill Clinton in 1997, winning
Senate confirmation in a 76-23 vote.
Federal
appeals court judge Sri Srinivasan had also been a finalist for the nomination.
Obama, in
office since 2009, has already named two justices to the Supreme Court: Sonia
Sotomayor, who at 55 became the first Hispanic justice in 2009, and Elena
Kagan, who was 50 when she became the fourth woman ever to serve on the court
in 2010.
Presidents
tend to pick nominees younger than Garland, so they can serve for decades and
extend a president's legacy. But Obama may reason that the choice of an older
nominee might also entice Senate Republicans into considering Obama's
selection.
Clinton
called Garland "a nominee with considerable experience" and “a
brilliant legal mind” and urged the Senate to move ahead with the confirmation
process.
(Reporting by Julia Edwards, Jeff Mason,
Richard Cowan and Joan Biskupic; additional reporting by Susan Cornwell, Doina
Chicau, Tim Ahmann, Susan Heavey, John Shiffman; Writing by Will Dunham;
Editing by Frances Kerry and Grant McCool)
(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2016 , Click For Restrictions
