Obama Selects Merrick Garland for Supreme Court Nominee

President Obama has picked Federal appeals court judge Merrick Garland as his nominee for Supreme Court Justice, which was left vacant by Antonin Scalia.

In the Rose Garden, White House, on Wednesday, Obama officially named him the Supreme Court nominee. But though theW Republican leaders in the Senate did not agree to consider a Supreme Court nominee, Obama was firm that he had chosen "a serious man and an exemplary judge," according to npr.

Strangely, the last time the Senate refused to vote on a President's Supreme Court nominee was in 1875. About one-third of earlier U.S. presidents have had a nominee confirmed to the Supreme Court during the election years.

The President called him "not only one of America's sharpest legal minds, but someone who brings to his work a spirit of decency, modesty, integrity, even-handedness, and excellence."

Garland responded with some emotion. "This is the greatest honor of my life, other than Lynn agreeing to marry me 28 years ago," Garland said, looking at his wife.

"As my parents taught me by both words and deeds," Garland said, "a life of public service is as much a gift to the person who serves as it is to those he is serving. And for me, there could be no higher public service than serving as a member of the United States Supreme Court."

Garland said that community service is given a lot of importance in his family. He said: "I know that my mother is watching this on television, and crying her eyes out. So are my sisters, who have supported me in every step I have ever taken. I only wish that my father were here to see this today."

He added, "I also wish that we hadn't taught my older daughter to be so adventurous that she would be hiking in the mountains, out of cell-service range, when the president called."

At present, 63-year-old Garland is the chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. He is an ex-prosecutor, and has earned the reputation of being moderate, open and collegial at the D.C. Circuit, a bench that is sometimes considered the second most important in the country.

With top posts in the Justice Department, Garland has overseen some of the biggest probes of the Clinton era, including the Oklahoma City bombing, the Unabomber case, and the Atlanta Olympics bombing.

On Thursday, he will visit Capitol Hill in order to meet legislators, Obama said, though Republicans did not agree to confirm the nominee.

"I am fulfilling my constitutional duty," Obama said in the end. "I'm doing my job. I hope that our Senators will do their jobs, and move quickly to consider my nominee."