[DIGEST: CNN, NYT]

President Barack Obama nominated Judge Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court, saying “I’ve selected a nominee who is widely recognized not only as one of America’s sharpest legal minds, but someone who brings to his work a spirit of decency, modesty, integrity, even-handedness and excellence.” Garland would fill the seat held by Justice Antonin Scalia until his sudden death. President Obama’s nomination flies in the face of national Republican leadership, who have demanded that the President leave the seat vacant until the next presidency in January of 2017.