Despite Republicans’ promise to block any nominee, President Barack Obama announced the nomination of Merrick Garland, chief judge of the federal appeals court for the District of Columbia, to the United States Supreme Court Wednesday. The political showdown comes after Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia died unexpectedly last month. Republicans in Congress were quick to call on the president not to nominate a successor, saying it should be up to the next elected president after the 2016 election. Obama said it is his duty to ensure the court remains fully staffed with nine justices in order to avoid 4 - 4 split decisions. Obama praised Garland’s commitment to the law and ability to bridge ideological divides. Garland joined the Justice Department in 1993 and oversaw its investigation in the Oklahoma City bombings. He was later confirmed to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals in 1997 after being nominated by President Bill Clinton. “To suggest that someone as qualified and respected as Merrick Garland doesn’t even deserve a hearing, let alone an up-or-down vote, to join an institution as important as our Supreme Court … that would be unprecedented,” Obama said during his announcement. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell quickly took to the Senate floor to repeat his promise that Congressional Republicans will not allow even a hearing on Obama’s nomination.

U.S. Supreme Court – the highest federal court in the US, consists of nine justices and takes judicial precedence over all other courts in the land; sometimes abbreviated as SCOTUS Court of Appeal — 12 federal courts of appeal, each covering regions (or circuits) across the U.S.; a case  may be appealed to higher state or federal appellate courts until it reaches the U.S. Supreme Court