Photo: 
Reuters
Pocket pick: the SCOTUS bench

Putting Senate Republicans on the spot, Barack Obama has chosen a respected moderate to fill Antonin Scalia’s Supreme Court seat. Merrick Garland’s résumé looks central-casting perfect: two Harvard degrees, clerking for Justice William Brennan and serving as a federal prosecutor in the Oklahoma City bombing trial. Now he is chief judge on the “DC circuit” court of appeals, America’s second-most influential tribunal, where he has served since 1997. At 63, Mr Garland is the oldest nominee in nearly half a century. He is no liberal firebrand, but the Republicans are sticking to their guns and refusing to hold confirmation hearings. Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, says it’s “about a principle, not a person”; voters “should have a say” in filling the vacancy, so the Senate should hold off until the next president takes office. If Donald Trump continues his march toward the Republican nomination, that tune may change.

Mar 17th 2016
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