Potential Justices: Merrick Garland

Updated: January 31, 2011 | 9:04 a.m.
July 26, 2008

U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit

Age: 55

Details: Appointed by President Clinton in 1997, he is widely admired as a moderate-spirited, consensus-seeking intellectual star. His recent opinion upholding a Guantanamo Bay detainee's appeal was joined by a very conservative colleague. He clerked for Justice William Brennan and later went from big-firm partner to federal prosecutor and Clinton Justice Department official, where he handled the Oklahoma City bombing investigation.

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