Merrick Garland, born November 13, 1952, is a former judge and attorney who was nominated by President Joe Biden as the nation’s Attorney General in January 2021. Garland has a long history of working in the law, having graduated from undergraduate and law school from Harvard University before serving as a clerk in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.

Garland was swept up in a 2016 Supreme Court nomination, when President Barack Obama nominated him to fill the seat left vacant by Justice Antonin Scalia following his death in February 2016. Garland never had a hearing for his appointment, as Republicans argued that justices to the Supreme Court should be appointed by the next president during an election year.

Here, Judge Merrick Garland, President Barack Obama’s choice to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court arrives for a meeting with Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, April 13, 2016. To see more photos of Merrick Garland, check out the rest of the images in this gallery of photos.