Yesterday, President Obama nominated Judge Merrick Garland, Chief Judge of the D.C. Cir., to fill the seat vacated by the recent death of Justice Scalia. Merrick is a graduate of Harvard and Harvard Law School, and clerked for Justice Brennan. He majored in Social Studies at Harvard and was Articles Editor at the Harvard Law Review.

Although I scanned various articles looking for some tech background to provide another view to the anti-life science patent proponents on the current court, such as Justices Breyer and Thomas, I couldn’t find much. Wiki notes that Garland has ‘favored contested EPA regulations and actions when changed by industry, and in other cases he has accepted challenges brought by environmental groups.” So at least he doesn’t believe the earth is flat or that the Creator is warming us up for the second coming.

Of course, Republican Senators who have spoken out have no interest in even holding hearings on this distinguished jurist, who was appointed to the D.C. Cir. by President Clinton. At that time, Republicans opposed his appointment on the laughable basis that the court did not need a 12^thjudge and that his appointment would be a waste of Federal funds. I guess that the obstructionist opponents would rather wait to see who the Donald hires for the job.