Getting to Know SCOTUS Nominee Merrick Garland

Merrick Garland joined Arnold & Porter in 1981 as an associate litigator, and by 1985, he had made partner.

But just as quickly, Garland was gone: In 1989, he departed the firm to serve as an assistant U.S. attorney in the District of Columbia and went on to rise to the top of the U.S. Justice Department before landing on the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C. in 1997, where he is now chief judge.

Garland’s career in law has come up for new attention after President Obama nominated him for the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday. As a judge he has tended to act deferentially to regulatory agencies ...