--- title: Merrick Garland for Supreme Court: What Happened Last Time description: The newest Supreme Court nominee has made the shortlist twice in the past canonical: https://time.com/4261137/merrick-garland-supreme-court-shortlist/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-03-16T16:01:29.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T16:11:22.000Z article:section: History og:title: Merrick Garland for Supreme Court: What Happened Last Time og:description: The newest Supreme Court nominee has made the shortlist twice in the past og:url: https://time.com/4261137/merrick-garland-supreme-court-shortlist/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9ed4a2b034432559/69888b315f570f2a3ab20107/garland.jpeg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Merrick B. Garland og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Merrick Garland for Supreme Court: What Happened Last Time twitter:description: The newest Supreme Court nominee has made the shortlist twice in the past twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9ed4a2b034432559/69888b315f570f2a3ab20107/garland.jpeg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # What Happened Last Time Merrick Garland Was Considered for the Supreme Court  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Updated: Dec 13, 2023 4:11 PM UTCPublished: Mar 16, 2016 4:01 PM UTC  Judge Merrick B. Garland is seen at the federal courthouse in Washington on May 1, 2008 Judge Merrick B. Garland is seen at the federal courthouse in Washington on May 1, 2008Charles Dharapak—AP  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Updated: Dec 13, 2023 4:11 PM UTCPublished: Mar 16, 2016 4:01 PM UTC President Obama’s [announcement](http://time.com/4261007/merrick-garland-supreme-court-barack-obama/) on Wednesday that he will nominate [Merrick Garland](http://time.com/4260899/merrick-garland-supreme-court-nominee-president-obama/) for the open seat on the Supreme Court isn’t the first time that Garland, who is currently chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, has had his name brought up in connection with the highest court in the land. The last two times that a seat on the bench opened up, in [2010](http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Supreme%5FCourt/obamas-supreme-court-short-list-includes-women/story?id=10359170) and [2009](http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/05/01/list-of-possible-replacements-for-justice-david-souter/), Garland was discussed as a shortlisted candidate. Those nominations eventually went to Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor, but not before Washington and its observers had had time to react to the potential for Garland’s nomination. Some of those reactions—notably, that he was[ too old](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/23/AR2010042302226.html)—have been proved moot by his nomination. But, as current Senate Republicans [promise](http://time.com/4234570/supreme-court-nominee-scalia-senate-obama/) not to consider any nominee chosen by Obama, it’s interesting to look back at how experts responded to Garland several years ago, when some suggested he would receive bipartisan support if nominated. Benjamin Wittes, then a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution (who disclosed that he was also friendly with Garland), [wrote](http://www.newsweek.com/case-merrick-garland-supreme-court-70667) that a “Garland nomination would be a bold statement of faith on the president’s part that legal excellence and a willingness to engage with ideological opponents can break down seemingly insurmountable walls.” Ed Whelan, who was a Justice Department official with the Bush administration, [called](http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1981401%5F1981416%5F1981410,00.html) him “the best that conservatives could reasonably hope for from a Democratic President.” Republican [Sen. Orrin Hatch](http://time.com/4259954/obama-scotus-nominee/), who spoke favorably of Garland [last week](http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/john-gizzi-orrin-hatch-obama-will-nominate/2016/03/13/id/718871/), also [said](http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-court-hatch-idUSTRE6456QY20100506) in 2010 that Garland would have bipartisan support, “No question.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4261137/merrick-garland-supreme-court-shortlist/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4261137/merrick-garland-supreme-court-shortlist/"},"headline":"What Happened Last Time Merrick Garland Was Considered for the Supreme Court","datePublished":"2016-03-16T16:01:29.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-13T16:11:22.000Z","description":"The newest Supreme Court nominee has made the shortlist twice in the past","url":"https://time.com/4261137/merrick-garland-supreme-court-shortlist/","keywords":["politics","Supreme Court","Courts","scotus"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9ed4a2b034432559/69888b315f570f2a3ab20107/garland.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9ed4a2b034432559/69888b315f570f2a3ab20107/garland.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Merrick B. 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