SCOTUS announcement at 11 am in the Rose Garden {UPDATE: the pick is Merrick Garland}

[mountaineer]

Posted by Mark Knoller of CBS News on Twitter

Mark Knoller ‏@markknoller 42m42 minutes ago

SCOTUS announcement at 11am in the Rose Garden.

[mountaineer]

Heaven help us.

President Obama will announce his nominee to fill a vacancy on the Supreme Court in the White House Rose Garden at 11 a.m., he said in an email to supporters Wednesday.

While Senate Republicans have said they will not consider any jurist the president nominates for the nation's highest court, Obama sent out an email to supporters declaring he was prepared to do so. Late last week Obama had narrowed the list of potential nominees to three federal appeals judges: Sri Srinivasan, Merrick Garland and Paul Watford.

Both Srinivasan and Garland sit on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, while Watford sits on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

"Today, I will announce the person whom I believe is eminently qualified to sit on the Supreme Court," he said in the email. " As president, it is both my constitutional duty to nominate a justice and one of the most important decisions that I -- or any president -- will make."

Obama wrote that he's "devoted a considerable amount of time and deliberation to this decision" and the White House has "reached out to every member of the Senate, who each have a responsibility to do their job and take this nomination just as seriously."

The president said his nominee will meet his "three principles" for selecting a justice. Any justice "should possess an independent mind, unimpeachable credentials, and an unquestionable mastery of law"; should "recognize the limits of the judiciary’s role and "a keen understanding that justice is not about abstract legal theory, nor some footnote in a dusty casebook."

Still, Senate Republicans have said they have no intention of holding a hearing and a vote on the president’s pick. Speaking on the Senate floor Tuesday afternoon, Judiciary  Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley (Iowa) said “the next Supreme Court justice could dramatically change the direction of the court” and Americans deserved to “weigh in” before that happens.

Grassley openly questioned Obama’s emphasis on finding justices who have “empathy” and whose decisions are informed by their personal backgrounds.

The American people deserve the opportunity during this election year to weigh in on whether our next justice should apply the text of the Constitution, or alternatively, whether a justice should rely on his or her own ‘life experiences’ and personal sense of right and wrong to arrive at ‘just decisions and fair outcomes,’” Grassley said. “Senate Republicans will ensure the American people aren’t denied this unique and historic opportunity.”

Democrats, for their part, are preparing to make Republicans’ opposition to filling the vacancy an issue in the fall election. Speaking in West Palm Beach Fla. Tuesday night, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton mentioned in her victory speech in  that one of the reasons the presidential race matters is because the Supreme Court appointment has such enormous policy implications.

Together, we have to defend all of our rights - civil rights and voting rights, worker’s rights and women’s rights, LGBT rights and rights for people with disabilities and that starts by standing with President Obama when he nominates a justice to the Supreme Court,” she said, prompting large cheers from the crowd.

“While the question of who sits on the nation’s highest court is not traditionally a top-tier election issue, Democrats are hoping to use it as part of a broader narrative about Republican resistance to the president’s policies.

David Greenberg, a professor of history and journalism and media studies at Rutgers University, noted that Richard Nixon first elevated the court as an electoral issue in 1968, when he attacked then-Chief Justice Earl Warren and his fellow justices.
“It was putting a liberal-dominated court at the center of the liberal establishment he was attacking,” Greenberg said, for “bringing about all these cultural changes” in the country.

This year, Greenberg said, Democrats are hoping to leverage the impasse over the court  to promote the idea, “The Republican Party is the party of nothing.”

While administration officials know the nominee faces long odds given the opposition of Grassley and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), they remain hopeful that the GOP senators who are most vulnerable this election--Sens. Kelly Ayotte (N.H.), Ron Johnson (Wisc.), Mark Kirk (Ill.) and Pat Toomey (Penn.)--may lobby their leaders for a vote if they come under fire back home for obstructionism.

“The success or failure of this will depend on the pressure that can be brought to bear on those senators who Mitch McConnell marched out to the firing line,” said one former senior administration official, who asked for anonymity in order to discuss internal White House deliberations.

WashPost

[mountaineer]

Obama to announce Supreme Court nominee
By Associated Press/NY Post
March 16, 2016 | 7:41am

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama has made his decision on a Supreme Court nominee and planned to introduce his pick at a Rose Garden ceremony Wednesday, setting up a showdown with Senate Republicans who have told the White House not to bother filling the vacancy in an election year.

In an email to supporters, Obama did not identify his choice to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia on the nine-member court. But the president said he had devoted a “considerable amount of time and deliberation to this decision” and consulted with outside experts and groups.

“In putting forward a nominee today, I am fulfilling my constitutional duty. I’m doing my job,” Obama wrote. “I hope that our senators will do their jobs, and move quickly to consider my nominee.”

That will be a hard sell because Republicans control the Senate, which must confirm any nominee, and GOP leaders want to leave the choice to the next president, denying Obama a chance to alter the ideological balance of the court before he leaves office next January. Republicans contend that a confirmation fight in an election year would be too politicized.

The Associated Press has reported that Obama had narrowed the list to three appeals court judges: Merrick Garland, the chief judge of the appeals courts in Washington, D.C.; Sri Srinivasan, a judge on that court; and Paul Watford of the appeals courts based in San Francisco.

In his email, Obama said his nominee will be “eminently qualified” to sit on the nation’s highest court. He said the nominee would understand the limits of the judiciary’s role and “grasps the way it affects the daily reality of people’s lives in a big, complicated democracy, and in rapidly changing times.”

Obama said the White House had “reached out to every member of the Senate, who each have a responsibility to do their job and take this nomination just as seriously.”

The president told supporters that his nominee “deserves a fair hearing, and an up-or-down vote.”

[Bill Cipher]

The damned Senate better sit tight and not take this up.  Period. 

[Relic]

The damned Senate better sit tight and not take this up.  Period.

The fact that you have to post that is very telling about the state of the GOP.

[Carling]

The fact that you have to post that is very telling about the state of the GOP.

With all of the in-party ankle-biting toward Trump, I had forgot about this latest "opportunity" for the GOProg Senate to once again snatch defeat away from victory by caving in when the media starts calling them racists for not confirming whatever type of minority Obama nominates.

[mystery-ak]

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/273208-obama-nominates-merrick-garland-to-supreme-court

Obama to nominate Merrick Garland to Supreme Court: report

 By Jordan Fabian - 03/16/16 10:03 AM EDT
 
President Obama will nominate Merrick Garland, the chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, to the Supreme Court, the Associated Press is reporting Wednesday morning.
 
Obama is expected to formally announce the nomination at 11 a.m. at the White House.
 
The selection of Garland fulfills Obama’s goal of putting forth a nominee who has support from both Republicans and Democrats.
 
Regardless, the nomination is sure to trigger a partisan battle in the Senate, where GOP leaders have pledged to block any Obama nominee to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia.
 
Republicans argue an Obama pick would undoubtedly shift the balance of the court to the left and want the next president to decide Scalia's successor.
 
But in Garland, Obama is putting forth a candidate he believes is deserving of GOP support. 
 
The 63-year-old judge has built a reputation as a moderate who is well-liked by Republicans. His professional resume is similar to many justices already on the high court.
 
The judge has proven to be confirmable in a Republican-controlled Senate. The upper chamber in 1997 voted 76-23 to confirm him. Thirty-two Republicans joined the majority, seven of whom are still in office.
 
The D.C. Circuit has long been considered a stepping stone to the high court. Three current justices — as well as Scalia — served there previously.
 
A Chicago native, Garland, was a top contender for the last Supreme Court opening in 2010, which Obama ultimately filled with his then-solicitor general, Elena Kagan.
 
Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), a senior member of the Judiciary Committee, said at the time he would help Garland get confirmed if he was nominated.
 
"I have no doubts that Garland would get a lot of [Senate] votes,” Hatch, a former chairman of the panel, told Reuters. “And I will do my best to help him get them."
 
Garland’s experience is appealing to members on both sides of the aisle.
 
He clerked for Supreme Court Justice William Brennan, who was appointed by Republican President Dwight Eisenhower but went on to lead the court’s liberal wing, and Second Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Henry Friendly, another Eisenhower appointee under whom Chief Justice John Roberts also clerked.
 
During his service as a federal prosecutor, he oversaw cases involving the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing and the Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski.
 
But a Supreme Court confirmation, of course, will be much more difficult. Hatch has joined other Republican senators in saying Obama’s nominee should not even receive a hearing before the Senate.
 
Despite his lengthy resume, Garland is somewhat of a surprise pick for Obama, who has valued racial, ethnic and professional diversity in his past judicial picks.
 
Garland is a white male who would not add religious diversity to the bench — he is Jewish. At 63, he would be one of the oldest people ever to be confirmed to the high court. Like five other current justices, Garland graduated from Harvard.
 
Garland’s lengthy paper trail built up over almost two decades on the federal bench could also give Republicans ample opportunity to find objectionable views.

[aligncare]

Merrick Garland. He's a head fake. This guy's a Thurston Howell III type, another Harvard blueblood, as white as you can get. He's Obama's idea of who Republicans would accept. He's going nowhere. The stealth nominee comes later.

[mountaineer]

My congressman was afraid BO would nominate a Republican to make things awkward for McConnell. Maybe this guy is as close to that as Barry Hussein could force himself to get. But seriously, who doesn't know that BO really wants another far leftist on the court?

[Bill Cipher]

The fact that you have to post that is very telling about the state of the GOP.

You think Trump would be able to do anything?  The president doesn't control the Senate. 

[Bill Cipher]

With all of the in-party ankle-biting toward Trump, I had forgot about this latest "opportunity" for the GOProg Senate to once again snatch defeat away from victory by caving in when the media starts calling them racists for not confirming whatever type of minority Obama nominates.

Doesn't sound like he nominated a minority, as that term is normally used.

[Relic]

You think Trump would be able to do anything?  The president doesn't control the Senate.

Who said anything about Trump? He's living in your head rent free! 

[alicewonders]

With all of the in-party ankle-biting toward Trump, I had forgot about this latest "opportunity" for the GOProg Senate to once again snatch defeat away from victory by caving in when the media starts calling them racists for not confirming whatever type of minority Obama nominates.

You and I think alike.

[Bill Cipher]

You and I think alike.

Except that he didn't nominate a minority.  Oops. 

[mountaineer]

5 Facts You Need to Know About Merrick Garland
by Joel B. Pollak
16 Mar 2016
Breitbart

On Wednesday, President Barack Obama nominated Judge Merrick Garland to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court. Here are five quick facts you need to know about Garland.

1. Garland is considered anti-Second Amendment. As the National Review noted last week: “Back in 2007, Judge Garland voted to undo a D.C. Circuit court decision striking down one of the most restrictive gun laws in the nation” and voted “to uphold an illegal Clinton-era regulation that created an improvised gun registration requirement.” Obama will use his pick to pursue a gun control agenda.

2. Garland has favored environmental regulations. As SCOTUSblog noted in 2010: “On environmental law, Judge Garland has in a number of cases favored contested EPA regulations and actions when challenged by industry, and in other cases he has accepted challenges brought by environmental groups.” That could be very important, with Obama’s Clean Power Plan in the balance.

3. Garland’s positions on abortion and social issues are murky. Some liberals are worried that Garland may not be unambiguously pro-choice. Richard Wolf of USA Today writes: “During 19 years at the D.C. Circuit, Garland has managed to keep a low profile. The court’s largely administrative docket has left him without known positions on issues such as abortion or the death penalty.”

4. Garland would maintain the Court’s demographic profile. He is no “wise Latina,” and is the first man Obama has chosen for the Court. But Garland, like Scalia, is a graduate of Harvard Law School, keeping the number of Crimson justices at five. If confirmed, he would also be the fourth member of the Jewish faith on the Court, preserving the odd exclusion of evangelical Protestants.

5. Republicans have supported Garland in the past. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) in particular has been outspoken in his support for Garland as the best Republicans could expect from a Democratic administration. More recently, he suggested he would welcome Garland’s nomination but predicted that Obama would make a more ideological pick. That makes Garland harder for the GOP to oppose.

[mountaineer]

Republican Sen. Shelley Moore Capito comments on Facebook:

Senator Shelley Moore Capito
9 mins ·

President Obama today announced his nominee to replace Justice Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court. Before a Supreme Court justice is confirmed to a lifetime position on the bench, West Virginians and the American people should have the ability to weigh in at the ballot box this November. My position does not change with the naming of a nominee today. Anyone confirmed to the Supreme Court will play a key role in decisions on monumental issues ranging from EPA regulations that affect West Virginia’s energy sector, to immigration and Second Amendment rights. With just a few months until the election, West Virginians should have an opportunity to express their views and elect a new president who will select the Supreme Court justice. ‪#‎GiveThePeopleaVoice‬

[HAPPY2BME]

NEW YORK (JTA) – President Barack Obama nominated to the Supreme Court a Jewish judge, Merrick Garland, who is currently the chief of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.

Garland, 63, a Chicago native, has worked in Washington since the 1970s, first as a Supreme Court clerk, then a private lawyer, an assistant U.S. attorney and, since 1997, a federal judge.

Born to a Jewish mother and a Protestant father, Garland was raised as a Jew.

Obama made the announcement on Wednesday morning in the White House Rose Garden about his pick to fill the Supreme Court seat held by Antonin Scalia, who died last month. Republicans have vowed to block any Obama nominee, saying the vacancy on the nation’s highest court should be filled by the next president. The U.S. Senate, which is controlled by a Republican majority, must confirm any Supreme Court pick.

“As President, it is both my constitutional duty to nominate a Justice and one of the most important decisions that I — or any president — will make,” Obama said in an email message sent Wednesday saying the announcement would be made at 11 a.m. “I’ve devoted a considerable amount of time and deliberation to this decision. I’ve consulted with legal experts and people across the political spectrum, both inside and outside government. And we’ve reached out to every member of the Senate, who each have a responsibility to do their job and take this nomination just as seriously.”

Garland was named to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia circuit by President Bill Clinton in 1997 and became chief judge in 2013. He reportedly was on Obama’s short list for a place on the Supreme Court when a seat opened up in 2009, but Obama ultimately nominated Sonia Sotomayor.

Garland is a graduate of Harvard Law School and clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan Jr. In 1987, he married fellow Harvard graduate Lynn Rosenman in a Jewish ceremony at the Harvard Club in New York. Rosenman’s grandfather, Samuel Rosenman of New York, was a state Supreme Court justice and a special counsel to two presidents, Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman.

If confirmed, Garland would be the fourth Jewish justice on the nation’s highest court, which is comprised entirely of Jews and Catholics. The three current Jewish members of the Supreme Court are Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Elana Kagan and Stephen Breyer.

After finishing his Supreme Court clerkship in 1979, Garland became a special assistant to the U.S. attorney general before joining the Washington law firm Arnold & Porter. He later served as an assistant U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia and a deputy assistant attorney general until his appointment as U.S. circuit court judge. Clinton first nominated him in 1995, but the Republican-controlled Senate dragged its feet on confirming him. After Clinton won reelection in 1996 he renominated Garland, and the judge was confirmed in March 1997 by a 76-23 vote in the Senate.

http://www.jta.org/2016/03/16/news-opinion/united-states/obama-to-name-jewish-federal-judge-to-supreme-court

[HAPPY2BME]

Here's another famous Chicago Jew.

[jmyrlefuller]

This kind of bigoted, anti-Semitic attitude has no place in a civilized discussion. I'm not one for censorship, but there comes a point where attacking the man solely for his ethnicity/religion is simply disrespectful and offensive.

[libertybele]

This kind of bigoted, anti-Semitic attitude has no place in a civilized discussion. I'm not one for censorship, but there comes a point where attacking the man solely for his ethnicity/religion is simply disrespectful and offensive.

Agreed.  However, given his stance on the 2nd amendment alone ... HE WILL BE A DISASTER!  I pray that the GOP holds strong and refuses to vote until after the election.  Otherwise we are looking at a left leaning SCOTUS for decades!  Sharia law with no way to defend ourselves does not appeal to me!

McConnell has stated that they will NOT consider Garner for nomination.

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/03/16/president-obama-to-announce-supreme-court-nominee-at-11-am-et.html

[HAPPY2BME]

This kind of bigoted, anti-Semitic attitude has no place in a civilized discussion. I'm not one for censorship, but there comes a point where attacking the man solely for his ethnicity/religion is simply disrespectful and offensive.

=================================

uh ...

This was first reported by THE JEWISH TELEGRAPHIC AGENCY

http://www.jta.org/2016/03/16/news-opinion/united-states/obama-to-name-jewish-federal-judge-to-supreme-court

[Carling]

Agreed.  However, given his stance on the 2nd amendment alone ... HE WILL BE A DISASTER!  I pray that the GOP holds strong and refuses to vote until after the election.  Otherwise we are looking at a left leaning SCOTUS for decades!  Sharia law with no way to defend ourselves does not appeal to me!

McConnell has stated that they will NOT consider Garner for nomination.

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/03/16/president-obama-to-announce-supreme-court-nominee-at-11-am-et.html

A gun-grabber, huh?  Seems like someone Kasich would nominate.

[sinkspur]

Here's another famous Chicago Jew.

Those anti-semitic websites you frequent are rubbing off on you.

[GourmetDan]

Born to a Jewish mother and a Protestant father, Garland was raised as a Jew.

That would put 5 Jewish justices on the SCOTUS... how many is enough?  No wonder the muzzies think we're controlled...

[sinkspur]

That would put 5 Jewish justices on the SCOTUS... how many is enough?  No wonder the muzzies think we're controlled...

Garland would make 4.  4 Jews and 5 Catholics.

Can't have too many of those Jews anywhere, can we?    Now, all of a sudden, you're concerned about what Muslims think?