What’s Next For Merrick Garland

Donald Trump’s victory in the presidential election spells the end of Merrick Garland’s hopes to be appointed to the Supreme Court. Sometime in January, Garland will return to his post as Chief Justice for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. Nominated by President Obama shortly after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, Garland waited months for a hearing that Republican Senators never scheduled. “I think the right way to think about this is that he is returning to the D.C. circuit with his stature enhanced,” said Donald B. Verrilli Jr., who served as Obama’s Solicitor General until last spring. But, Verrilli said, the stunt pulled by Republicans is likely to have a lasting negative impact on Supreme Court nominations. “I think it’s going to be impossible for Democrats in the Senate to think anything other than this was a seat that was stolen from them for partisan reasons by the shredding of the norms that ought to govern the Supreme Court confirmation process.”