Obama Nominates Merrick Garland to Supreme Court

US President Barack Obama, with Vice President Joe Biden (left), announces his Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland (right)

President Barack Obama announced Wednesday he had settled on Merrick Garland, the chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit, as his nominee to replace the late Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court. Obama, who faces a backlash from Republicans in the U.S. who argue the next president elected in November should pick the nominee, said he did not take his decision lightly.

"The men and women who sit on the Supreme Court are the final arbiters of American law," he said. He called Garland a man of "decency, integrity and even-handedness."

Obama is said to have narrowed his list of choices to two likely candidates, both federal appeals judges. One is Sri Srinivasan, 49, and the other is Merrick Garland, 63. Srinivasan was born in India and would be a historic pick, as he would become the first South Asian-American and the first Hindu to serve on the high court.

Srinivasan also previously received a unanimous confirmation from the Senate, which would help Obama as he gears up to fight Republican leaders’ efforts to stop him from choosing a nominee. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other GOP members in the Senatehave said they believe the next president should nominate the new justice to give the American people a voice in the process. Democrats have expressed frustration with this attitude, but the Republican majority will make it difficult for the president to get his pick confirmed.

The Republican presidential candidates have also weighed in, and front-runner Donald Trump said Wednesday he agreed with McConnell. “I think they should wait until the next president and let the next president pick," Trump said on “Good Morning America” early Wednesday.

Obama will need at least 14 Republican senators to join with Democrats to break a probable filibuster from the GOP leadership, as well as five Republican senators to actually vote for the confirmation. His pick would replace the late Antonin Scalia, whose death last month left the Supreme Court with four conservative justices and four liberal ones. The new justice will likely have a significant impact on the ideological direction of the court for years to come.

The White House is hoping to move the process along by this summer, but many have predicted the battle could last through November. If that is the case, the Supreme Court battle will likely become a major election issue and could help turn out voters on both sides of the aisle.