Merrick Garland: Quick Facts

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Nov. 9, 2026

United States jurist Merrick Garland was appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in 1997 after being nominated by President Bill Clinton; in 2013 Garland became chief judge. Garland, who was widely viewed as a judicial moderate, was nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court by Pres. Barack Obama after a vacancy was created by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia in February 2016, but the Republican-controlled Senate refused to schedule a vote or even to hold hearings on Garland's nomination. In 2021 Pres. Joe Biden nominated Garland to serve as attorney general; on March 10 Garland was confirmed by the Senate.

Facts

Also Known As	Merrick Brian Garland
Born	November 13, 1952 (age 74) • Chicago • Illinois • (Born on this day)
Title / Office	attorney general (2021-2025), United States
Notable Family Members	son of Cyril Garland • son of Shirley Garland • married to Lynn Garland (1987–present) • father of Rebecca Garland • father of Jessica Garland • brother of Jill Roter • brother of Heidi Garland
Education	Niles West High School (Skokie, Illinois) • Harvard University (B.A., 1974) • Harvard Law School (J.D., 1977)

Did You Know?

Garland's grandparents fled the Pale of Settlement—western regions of the Russian Empire to which Jews were then restricted—to escape anti-Semitism.
Garland was the first Supreme Court nominee not to get a hearing in the U.S. Senate since at least the Reconstruction era, over a century ago.