US President Barack Obama has named Merrick Garland, a moderate centrist, to replace late Antonin Scalia in the Supreme Court, giving the Republican majority of the Senate the turn to either consider him or still insist on remaining optimistic about a GOPer president in White House in 2017.
Scalia’s death recently triggered political tensions in Washington as Republicans vowed to block anyone nominated by Obama as a successor.
Speaking at the White House Rose Garden, the president said the 63-year-old appeals court judge deserves a full hearing and a confirmation vote, calling him “a serious man and an exemplary judge.”
Obama urged the Senate to “play it straight,” noting that the court is “supposed to be above politics. It has to be. And it should stay that way.”
Garland, who currently serves as the chief judge for the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, is “ not only one of America’s sharpest legal minds but someone who…