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Vice-president Joe Biden has admitted that the White House made a political calculation in nominating “moderate” Merrick Garland to a lifetime position on the supreme court, a choice that disappointed some liberal activists.



Joe Biden speaks at Georgetown Law School in Washington. Photograph: Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP

Biden told an audience of law students in Washington that the administration had a responsibility to be pragmatic at a time of divided government which, in an at times impassioned address, he warned has the makings of a “constitutional crisis”.

“It hasn’t been a closed process,” he said at Georgetown Law School. “We’ve reached out. Who do you want? Who do you think? What type of person should we nominate? We did our duty. The president did his duty. We sought advice and we ultimately chose the course of moderation.

“Because the government is divided, the president did not go on and find another [William] Brennan. Merrick Garland intellectually is capable as any justice, but he has a reputation for moderation. I think that’s a responsibility of an administration in a divided government. Some of my liberal friends don’t agree with me, but I do. It’s about the government functioning.”