The news is all abuzz about President Obama’s nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court and whether he should be considered by Congress or whether the next president should be the one to fill the vacant seat.  According to multiple outlets, shortly after President Obama’s nomination of U.S. Court of Appeals for D.C. Circuit Chief Judge Merrick Garland, Mitch McConnell (Senate Majority Leader) and Charles Grassley (Senate Judicial Committee Chairman) both voiced that Judge Garland should not be considered.

Despite all of the partisan buzz, we at LPR were intrigued by President Obama’s description of Judge Garland:

[He] 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.

On April 26, 2010, in anticipation of filling an earlier Supreme Court seat, Tom Goldstein wrote an in-depth article for SCOTUSblog.com, titled The Potential Nomination of Merrick Garland.  In the article, Mr. Goldstein also praised Judge Garland’s judicial demeanor:

Judge Garland’s record demonstrates that he is essentially the model, neutral judge.  He is acknowledged by all to be brilliant.  His opinions avoid unnecessary, sweeping pronouncements.

So regardless where you stand on the political spectrum, we hope all can agree that Judge Garland’s attributes as reported are admirable and are a standard to which all judges should aspire.