Obama Nominates Garland to High Court, Challenging GOP

The pick sets up a confrontation with Republicans who say they will refuse to consider his nomination in an election year.

President Barack Obama with Judge Merrick B. Garland, while nominating him to the U.S. Supreme Court, in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, D.C., on March 16, 1016. Mark Wilson/Getty Images

WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama will nominate federal appeals court judge Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court, congressional sources said Wednesday. The pick sets up a confrontation with Republicans who say they will refuse to consider his nomination in an election year.

Garland, 63, is the chief judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, a court whose influence over federal policy and national security matters has made it a proving ground for potential Supreme Court justices.

He would replace conservative, Justice Antonin Scalia, who died last month, leaving behind a bitter election-year fight over the future of the court.

The congressional sources spoke on condition of anonymity because Obama had not yet announced his choice. A White House official confirmed it was Garland. Obama planned to introduce his pick at 11 a.m. in the White House Rose Garden.