Merrick B. Garland, 63, is a moderate who was considered by President Obama for a previous Supreme Court vacancy. He grew up in Chicago and graduated from Harvard College and Harvard Law School. He served as law clerk to Judge Henry Friendly of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and to U.S. Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan. Garland was also a partner of the law firm of Arnold & Porter.

A longtime Justice Department official, Garland served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia from 1989 to 1992 and Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. From 1994 to 1997, he served as Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General, supervising major cases, such as the prosecutions of Oklahoma City bombers Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols and Unabomber Ted Kaczynski.

Garland was appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in April 1997 and became chief judge in February 2013.