Who is Merrick Garland?

By Ryan Miner 

President Barack Obama this morning is set to announce his nomination of Judge Merrick B. Garland to the United States Supreme Court.

Garland, 63, is considered to hold a moderate jurisprudence. He was originally considered by President Obama for a previous Supreme Court vacancy.

Garland grew up in Chicago and graduated from Harvard Law School. He served as law clerk to Judge Henry Friendly of the U.S. Court of Appeals fo the 2nd Circuit and to Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan Jr. Garland was once a partner at the law firm Arnold & Porter.

A longtime Justice Department official, Garland served as an assistant U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia from 1989 to 1992 and deputy assistant attorney general in the criminal division from 1993 to 1994. From 1994 to 1997, he was principal associate deputy attorney general, surprising major cases such as the prosecutions of Oklahoma City bombers Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols and Unabomber Ted Kaczynski.

Garland was appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in April 1997 and became chief judge in February 2013.

*** The information above is paraphrased from a previous Washington Post report ***