--- title: Merrick Garland: Meet President Obama's Supreme Court Pick description: Garland would join the justices with prosecutorial experience canonical: https://time.com/4260899/merrick-garland-supreme-court-nominee-president-obama/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-03-16T14:32:30.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T16:12:18.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: What to Know About Merrick Garland, President Obama's Supreme Court Nominee og:description: Garland would join the justices with prosecutorial experience og:url: https://time.com/4260899/merrick-garland-supreme-court-nominee-president-obama/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdce7681450bc60ac/69888b3b3c1639e78345c750/garland-merrick.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2114 og:image:height: 1189 og:image:alt: Merrick B. Garland og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: What to Know About Merrick Garland, President Obama's Supreme Court Nominee twitter:description: Garland would join the justices with prosecutorial experience twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdce7681450bc60ac/69888b3b3c1639e78345c750/garland-merrick.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # What to Know About Merrick Garland, President Obama's Supreme Court Nominee > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Newsletters: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition TIME publishes seven free email newsletters, written and edited by TIME journalists, reaching more than 1.1 million engaged readers. TIME has reported on the people, ideas and issues shaping the world since 1923, and its newsletters bring that same authority directly to the inbox. 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Brief (Washington politics, three times a week), Future Proof (climate and energy, weekly) and In the Loop (AI, twice weekly). All are free at time.com/newsletters and together reach more than 1.1 million engaged readers. #### Which TIME newsletter should I subscribe to? It depends on what you follow. For a daily briefing, The Brief. For health, Health Matters. For Washington politics, D.C. Brief. For AI and technology, In the Loop. For climate and energy as a business story, Future Proof. For culture recommendations, Worth Your Time. For how TIME's journalism gets made, Inside TIME. Readers can select any combination at time.com/newsletters. #### Are TIME's newsletters free? Yes. All seven TIME newsletters are free to join at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes TIME's newsletters? TIME journalists write them. Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Updated: Dec 13, 2023 4:12 PM UTCPublished: Mar 16, 2016 2:32 PM UTC  Judge Merrick B. Garland in Washington, DC on May 1, 2008. Judge Merrick B. Garland in Washington, DC on May 1, 2008. Charles Dharapak—AP by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Updated: Dec 13, 2023 4:12 PM UTCPublished: Mar 16, 2016 2:32 PM UTC President Obama has [selected Merrick Garland](http://time.com/4261007/merrick-garland-supreme-court-barack-obama/), who currently serves as chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, as his nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court. Garland, 63, is being tapped to fill the seat left vacant by the death of Antonin Scalia. Garland, like Obama, has ties to the Chicago area and to Harvard. He was born in Chicago and graduated from Harvard College in 1974 before graduating with honors from Harvard Law School in 1977\. After graduating Garland, clerked for Second Circuit Judge Henry Friendly and served as a clerk for Supreme Court Justice William Brennan. Though Garland has worked in private practice, being named partner at the law firm Arnold & Porter, the bulk of his career has been spent in the public sector. Garland worked in the U.S. Department of Justice as a Special Assistant to the Attorney General between 1979 and 1981\. He served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in D.C. after leaving the private sector and before joining the U.S. Department of Justice. Garland served as both the Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Criminal Division and the Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General prior to his nomination to the appellate court. While at the Justice Department, [Merrick aided in the prosecution of the Oklahoma City bomber](http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/28/us/politics/28garland.html). Garland was the highest-ranking Justice Department official dispatched to the scene. Like his potential colleagues Justice Sonia Sotomayor and Justice Samuel Alito, Garland has prosecutorial experience. He has served on the appellate level since 1997, when he was nominated by President Bill Clinton and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Two years prior, he had also been nominated to the court but his nomination [was stalled by Senate Republicans.](http://www.scotusblog.com/2010/04/the-potential-nomination-of-merrick-garland/) Throughout his two decades on the Circuit Court, which is often viewed as a stepping stone for U.S. Supreme Court Justices, Garland has widely been viewed as a centrist. But on matters of criminal law, the judge has been more center-right. He was found to “rarely \[vote\] in favor of criminal defendants’ appeals of their convictions” by a [SCOTUSblog](http://www.scotusblog.com/2010/04/the-potential-nomination-of-merrick-garland/) analysis of his record in 2010, and he joined an opinion that said Guantanamo Bay detainees cannot seek relief in civilian courts in 2003\. His history on other areas of law, including environmental law, open government, and civil rights has also varied. Conservatives, however, question [Garland over where he stands on gun rights](http://www.nationalreview.com/bench-memos/432716/moderates-are-not-so-moderate-merrick-garland). The selection of Garland, though widely viewed as compromise choice, is sure to set of a maelstrom between Obama and Senate Republicans, who have vowed not to consider any Obama nominee and have argued the next president should fill the vacancy. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4260899/merrick-garland-supreme-court-nominee-president-obama/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4260899/merrick-garland-supreme-court-nominee-president-obama/"},"headline":"What to Know About Merrick Garland, President Obama's Supreme Court Nominee","datePublished":"2016-03-16T14:32:30.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-13T16:12:18.000Z","description":"Garland would join the justices with prosecutorial experience","url":"https://time.com/4260899/merrick-garland-supreme-court-nominee-president-obama/","keywords":["Supreme Court","Barack Obama","White House","Obama","Merrick Garland"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdce7681450bc60ac/69888b3b3c1639e78345c750/garland-merrick.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdce7681450bc60ac/69888b3b3c1639e78345c750/garland-merrick.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Merrick B. 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