Updated

President Obama nominated federal appeals court Judge Merrick Garland Wednesday to fill the Supreme Court vacancy left by the late Justice Antonin Scalia.

Here are some details on his background:

  • Garland is chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
  • He has served under both Republican and Democratic presidents – including the Carter, H.W. Bush and Clinton administrations. He was nominated to the D.C. Circuit under President Clinton.
  • Garland clerked for Justice William J. Brennan Jr., the court’s liberal icon.
  • He was mentioned as a possible nominee when Justice John Paul Stevens retired, though that seat went to Justice Elena Kagan.
  • He was born in Chicago and attended Harvard University and Harvard Law School. 
  • From 1994 until his appointment, Garland served as principal associate deputy attorney general. In that role, he supervised the investigation of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing and prosecution of the Unabomber.
  • In 2013, Garland rebuked the administration over the secrecy surrounding drone strikes abroad. 
Data curated by InsideGov