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Supreme court nomination: Obama to name Merrick Garland – politics live
Supreme court nomination: Obama names Merrick Garland – politics live
(35 minutes later)
2.53pm GMT
3.28pm GMT
14:53
15:28
Trump to boycott next debate
Garland: 'this is the greatest honor of my life'
Donald Trump has made it official: he’s not participating in the scheduled 21 March debate in Salt Lake City, a recent add to the debate calendar.
“This is the greatest honor of my life,” other than his wife agreeing to marry him, Garland says. And the greatest gift, apart from the birth of our daughters, he says.
Trump told Fox News that he would instead be speaking to AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
He’s choking up. Touching start.
“I’m doing a major speech in front of a very important group of people that night,” he said.
He talks about his parents leaving Europe, “fleeing anti-Semitism” to land in Chicago. He tells his father and mother’s story, his father instilling the importance of hard work and fairness, and his mother’s volunteer work teaching him the importance of service to the community.
2.50pm GMT
He says his mother “is watching him on television and crying her eyes out.” He says he wishes his father could “see this day.”
14:50
He says his older daughter is hiking out of cell service range, and chuckles.
Boehner: 'I'm for Paul Ryan'
3.25pm GMT
While we wait for Obama to pop up in the Rose Garden in about 15 minutes, let’s take a quick scan of politics news lines.
15:25
Former House speaker John Boehner has just kicked the conceptual door wide open on a brokered convention in which someone not currently running for president emerges as the Republican nominee. That someone would be Boehner’s successor, Paul Ryan, the Ohioan told the Futures Industry Association in comments first reported by Politico.
“He is the right man for the job. He deserves to be confirmed. I could not be prouder of the work he has already done on behalf of the American people. He deserves our thanks.” – Obama
If no candidate is elected in the first round of voting at the national convention in July, presumably after having crossed the 1,237 delegate barrier, Boehner said, “I’m for Paul Ryan”:
3.24pm GMT
They all had a chance to win. None of them won. So I’m for none of the above. I’m for Paul Ryan to be our nominee.”
15:24
2.45pm GMT
Obama: 'I simply ask Republicans to give him a fair hearing'
14:45
“I said I would take this process seriously, and I did. I chose a serious man and an exemplary judge, Merrick Garland,” Obama says.
The number seven is significant because under the current 54-46 makeup of the Senate, it only would take five Republican senators to vote in favor of a nominee to confirm by majority.
He says in all his conversations with lawmakers, “The one name that has come up repeatedly from Republicans and Democrats alike is Merrick Garland.”
Not that Garland will get anywhere close to a confirmation vote, or that senators who previously voted in his favor would again do so in this political climate.
“I recognize that we have entered the political season... a political season that is even noisier and more volatile than usual.
7 current GOP Senators voted to put Merrick Garland on DC Circuit back in 1997 pic.twitter.com/z4Ov0WSR0y
“I also know because of Justice Scalia’s outsized role on the court and American law... it is tempting to make this confirmation process simply an extension of our divided politics...
2.43pm GMT
“But to go down that path would be wrong. It would be a betrayal of our best traditions. And a betrayal of... our founding doctrines.
14:43
“This is precisely the time when we should play it straight.
Barack Obama is expected to intensify his fight with the Republican majority in the US Senate by nominating an appeals court judge with a record of challenging the federal government to the US supreme court in the wake of the death of the conservative justice Antonin Scalia, write the Guardian’s Ed Pilkington and Dan Roberts:
“The Supreme Court is unique. It’s supposed to be above politics. It has to be, and it should stay that way...
Merrick Garland, the nominee according to a White House official, now faces an almost insurmountable task of overcoming the dogged resistance of the Republican wing of the Senate that has made clear its intention to boycott any Obama nominee to the nation’s highest court. His nomination puts him at the center of one of the most bitter disputes to erupt between the White House and conservatives in Congress.
“I simply ask Republicans in the senate to give him a fair hearing, and then an up-or-down vote. If you don’t then it will not only be an abdication of the senate’s constitutional duty... it will mean everything is subject to the most partisan politics, everything.”
At 63, Garland the oldest of the candidates that Obama shortlisted for the top judicial post. His age alone is likely to embolden Republican senators in their contentious opposition to confirming anyone, as it will arm them with ammunition against him based on his long previous record.
“The reputation of the Supreme Court will inevitably suffer. Faith in our justice system will inevitably suffer. And our democracy will ultimately suffer as well.
The nominee is chief judge of the federal appeals court of Washington DC, a panel that traditionally is seen as a training ground for future supreme court justices. He was nominated for the DC circuit by Bill Clinton in 1997.
“I have fulfilled my constitutional duty. Now it’s time for the Senate to do theirs. Presidents do not stop working in the final year of their terms. Neither should the senate.”
It may not presage well that it took the US Senate of that day – which was also Republican-controlled – 18 months to complete the confirmation process. The eventual vote was 76 to 23, with 32 Republicans supporting him.
3.16pm GMT
Read the full piece here:
15:16
Related: Obama to nominate DC appeals court judge Merrick Garland to supreme court
Obama quotes current chief Justice John Roberts, Garland’s former colleague on the DC circuit. “Any time Judge Garland disagrees, you know you’re in a difficult area,” Roberts has said.
2.33pm GMT
But Garland is not just a great legal mind, Obama says. He has “a dedication to protecting the basic rights of every American,” including “everyday Americans.”
14:33
“To find someone who has such a long career in public service... to find someone who just about everyone respects but likes, that is rare,” Obama says.
Obama to nominate DC circuit judge Merrick Garland
3.14pm GMT
The Guardian has independently confirmed that Judge Merrick Garland is president Obama’s pick to fill the court vacancy.
15:14
2.32pm GMT
Now Obama is quoting senior Republican senator Hatch. “In all honesty I would like to see one person come to this floor and say one reason why Merrick Garland does not deserve this position.” Hatch has since called Garland an easy consensus nominee.
14:32
Obama points out that Republicans voted to confirm Garland. Then he was elevated to chief judge. He’s spent 19 years on the DC circuit.
Democratic senator Chuck Schumer, a judiciary committee member, tells Reuters that Garland is indeed the president’s pick.
Obama says Garland has a “track record on building consensus as a thoughtful, fair-minded justice who follows the law.”
“It’s an excellent choice, a bipartisan choice. If the Republicans can’t support him, who could they support,” said Schumer.
3.12pm GMT
Tom Goldstein of ScotusBlog has written a useful primer on Garland’s career and jurisprudence. He calls Garland “essentially the model, neutral judge”:
15:12
He is acknowledged by all to be brilliant. His opinions avoid unnecessary, sweeping pronouncements. ...
Obama sketches Garland’s bio. Born in Chicago. Valedictorian of public high school. Summa cum laude from Harvard and graduate of Harvard Law. He sold his comic book collection to help pay for law school.
He has broad support on both sides of the aisle, and he has few ideologically controversial rulings. Conservative commentators have expressed support for a potential Garland nomination....
Yuk Yuk. “Stop. I’ve been there,” Obama says. He continues:
Judge Garland would also likely have the most immediate influence on the Court. He is well known to the Justices and is likely the most respected by them collectively, particularly the more conservative Justices. The fact that Judge Garland is not only extremely intelligent and respectful but exceptionally careful and quite centrist would mean that his views would have particular salience with, among others, Justices Kennedy and Alito
Garland clerked for two Eisenhower appointees, Friendly and Brennan. He entered private practice and rose to partner in four years. In 1989 he “walked away from a comfortable and lucrative law practice to return to public service.”
2.27pm GMT
He was a prosecutor in George HW Bush’s administration. “He quickly made a name for himself going after corrupt politicians and violent criminals.” He oversaw “every aspect of the federal response to the Oklahoma City bombing.”
14:27
“Merrick had one evening to say goodbye to his young daughters before he went to Oklahoma City, where he would remain for weeks... he led the investigation and supervised the prosecution that brought Timothy McVeigh to justice. Perhaps what was most important was the way he did it.”
The Republican vow not to consider court nominee
“Merrick would take no chances that someone who murdered innocent Americans would go free on a technical challenge,” Obama says. He reached out to the victims’ families.
Republicans from Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell on down have said that they will not consider an Obama nominee to fill the court vacancy. In ten months a new president will take office.
Garland calls it “the most important thing I have ever done in my life,” Obama says. “It’s no surprise then, that soon after his work in Oklahoma City,” Garland was nominated to the DC Circuit court.
“I don’t know how many times we need to keep saying this: the judiciary committee has unanimously recommended to me that there be no hearing,” McConnell said last month. “I’ve said repeatedly and I’m now confident that my conference agrees that this decision ought to be made by the next president, whoever is elected.”
3.07pm GMT
McConnell said he saw no reason even to meet with an Obama nominee. Judiciary committee chairman Chuck Grassley, who would be in charge of convening any hearings on the nominee, has said he will not. “We’re not going to drop any nominee into that election-year cauldron,” he said earlier this month. “I’m certainly not going to let it happen to the good people of Iowa.”
15:07
Republicans have in the past said nice things in particular, however, about Garland, who led the prosecution of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh. Senator Orrin Hatch, the body’s senior Republican, has said that Garland’s “intelligence and his scholarship cannot be questioned”.
Obama is explaining and admiring the role of the court in US civil life. “This is nota a responsibility that I take lightly,” he says. It requires that he “set aside narrow politics.”
2.15pm GMT
“I’ve done my best to set up a rigorous comprehensive process,” Obama says. The WHite House talked with all judiciary committee members, scholars and experts.
14:15
“I’ve selected a nominee who is widely recognized not only as one of America’s sharpest legal minds, but someone who brings ... integrity, even-handedness and excellence.”
Purported Supreme Court nominee emerges
Obama calls Garland “uniquely qualified” to join the court immediately.
President Barack Obama will announce Merrick Garland, the chief justice for the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, as his nominee to replace late Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia, the Associated Press and various outlets are reporting.
“Today I am nominating chief Judge Merrick Brian Garland to join the Supreme Court.”
We’re working to confirm.
Applause.
Garland was confirmed to the D.C. Circuit in 1997 with backing from a majority in both parties, including seven current Republican senators.
3.05pm GMT
Updated
15:05
at 2.34pm GMT
Here’s the president. Vice president Joe Biden and Garland are with him.
12.54pm GMT
Obama says few decisions are “more consequential” than nominating a court justice.
12:54
3.04pm GMT
Hello, and welcome to our live-wire coverage of the 2016 race for the White House. President Barack Obama is about to announce, at 11am ET, a supreme court nominee – a move sure to make major waves in the nominating races.
15:04
But it will be hard to top the crests last night, when Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump exceeded expectations to rack up delegates in five states with mixed demographics in various regions, demonstrating again the national caliber of each candidacy.
At least we’re all going into this looming nomination battle with the best of intentions:
Related: Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump surge ahead after key primary wins
In one state, Missouri, the races were too close to call on both the Democratic and Republican sides. That didn’t stop both the Clinton and Trump campaigns from claiming wins.
2.56pm GMT
Senator Marco Rubio suspended his campaign after losing his home state of Florida badly to Trump, who swiped all 99 of the delegates at stake. Governor John Kasich enjoyed a home-state victory in Ohio and vowed to fight to the July convention, though he seemed out of the delegates race. Ted Cruz failed to notch a victory but said the race was between him and Trump.
14:56
Related: Florida, Ohio and other states vote – what we learned
Here’s a live video feed of the Rose Garden, where the president is scheduled to speak momentarily:
Here’s a snapshot of the delegates races as they stand:
Who do you think gets the supreme court nod this morning? As always, thanks for reading and joining in!
