--- title: Merrick Garland: Read Speech Nominating Him to Supreme Court description: Here is a full transcript canonical: https://time.com/4260979/supreme-court-nominee-merrick-garland-speech-transcript/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-03-16T15:43:42.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T15:56:47.108Z article:section: Politics og:title: Read Obama's Speech Nominating Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court og:description: "I could not be prouder of the work that he has already done" og:url: https://time.com/4260979/supreme-court-nominee-merrick-garland-speech-transcript/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltecd289dde913f77b/69888b37196cf4078a03ac4c/obama-merrick-biden.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Barack Obama, Merrick Garland og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Read Obama's Speech Nominating Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court twitter:description: "I could not be prouder of the work that he has already done" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltecd289dde913f77b/69888b37196cf4078a03ac4c/obama-merrick-biden.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Read Obama's Speech Nominating Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Mar 16, 2016 3:43 PM UTC  Merrick Garland stands with President Obama and Vice President Biden as he is introduced as Obama's nominee for the Supreme Court in the White House, on March 16, 2016. Merrick Garland stands with President Obama and Vice President Biden as he is introduced as Obama's nominee for the Supreme Court in the White House, on March 16, 2016.Pablo Martinez Monsivais—AP by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Mar 16, 2016 3:43 PM UTC President Obama [nominated federal appeals court judge Merrick Garland](http://time.com/4261007/merrick-garland-supreme-court-barack-obama) to the vacant Supreme Court seat in a speech in the Rose Garden Wednesday. He would replace conservative Justice Antonin Scalia, who [died in mid February](http://time.com/4224440/antonin-scalia-heart-attack/), but he faces an uphill battle as Senate Republicans have vowed not to confirm—or even vote on—Obama’s pick. Here are President Obama’s full remarks nominating Garland. --- > “” --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4260979/supreme-court-nominee-merrick-garland-speech-transcript/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4260979/supreme-court-nominee-merrick-garland-speech-transcript/"},"headline":"Read Obama's Speech Nominating Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court","datePublished":"2016-03-16T15:43:42.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T15:56:47.108Z","description":"\"I could not be prouder of the work that he has already done on behalf of the American people\"","url":"https://time.com/4260979/supreme-court-nominee-merrick-garland-speech-transcript/","keywords":["Supreme Court","Congress","Barack Obama","White House","Merrick Garland"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltecd289dde913f77b/69888b37196cf4078a03ac4c/obama-merrick-biden.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ryan Teague Beckwith","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltecd289dde913f77b/69888b37196cf4078a03ac4c/obama-merrick-biden.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Barack Obama, Merrick Garland","caption":"Barack Obama, Merrick Garland","creditText":"Pablo Martinez Monsivais—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/supreme-court/","name":"Supreme Court"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4260979/supreme-court-nominee-merrick-garland-speech-transcript/","name":"Read Obama's Speech Nominating Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court"}}]}] ```