Merrick garland nomination

United States Supreme Court nomination

On March 16, 2016, PresidentBarack Obama nominated Merrick Garland for Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States to succeed Antonin Scalia, who had died one month earlier.

Merrick garland supreme court

At the time of his nomination, Garland was the chief judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

This vacancy arose during Obama's final year as president. Hours after Scalia's death was announced, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he would consider any appointment by the sitting president to be null and void.

He said the next Supreme Court justice should be chosen by the next president—to be elected later that year.^[1][2][3] Senate Democrats criticized the move as being unprecedented.

They argued that there was sufficient time to vote on a nominee before the election.^[4]

Scalia's death brought about an unusual, but not unpr