What Happened With Merrick Garland In 2016 And Why It Matters Now

So much has happened in the past two years that many may have forgotten what happened to Merrick Garland in the spring of 2016.

But filling in that recollection goes some distance to explaining a lot of what's happened since.

To recap, Garland was nominated to fill the 2016 vacancy on the Supreme Court created by the death that February of Justice Antonin Scalia, an icon of conservative jurisprudence.

President Barack Obama quickly named Merrick Garland, 63, to fill the seat. Garland had long been considered a prime prospect for the High Court, serving as chief judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit – a frequent source of justices sometimes called the "little Supreme Court."

Widely regarded as a moderate, Garland had been praised in