Voting Station

Merrick Garland

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Judge

The Resume

    (November 13, 1952- )
    Born in Chicago, Illinois
    Chief Judge of the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit (2013 - )
    Previously had practiced corporate litigation at Arnold & Porter
    Served as law clerk to Judge Henry J. Friendly of the US Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit
    Worked as a Federal prosecutor in the U.S. Department of Justice
    Oversaw major investigations throughout the 1990s, including the Oklahoma City Bombing, the Unabomber case, and the Atlanta Olympics bombing
    Appointed to the DC Circuit by President Bill Clinton, getting approved by a 76-23 vote (1995)
    Nominated by President Barack Obama to be an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, filling the vacancy created by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia (March 16, 2016)

Why he might be annoying:

    He is a Harry Potter junkie.
    He is an effeminate male who shares a surname with a gay icon.
    He was complicit in selling Mayor Marion Barry down the river, having served on the prosecution team nailing him on drug possession.
    He was gullible enough to get punked by his kids, who tricked him into thinking his car had been stolen one April Fool’s Day.
    A close friend told People Magazine that he loves ice cream so much that his family has to put it under lock and key to keep him from overindulging.
    He was a finalist for a Supreme Court nomination in both 2009 and 2010 but was passed over both times (for Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.).
    In the wake of Antonin Scalia’s sudden passing, speculation mounted that President Obama would select another minority applicant, likely to uphold an exceedingly liberal agenda.
    His finally securing a nomination may have been rooted in the desire by the Obama administration to appear as non-partisan and cautionary as possible. He may have been ‘boring enough’ to fit that bill.
    Most of the media's focus on his record has centered on his time spent as a prosecutor, rather than his time as an actual judge.
    An examination of his judicial record, however, revealed that he rarely if ever ruled in favor of criminal defendants’ appeals for their convictions.

Why he might not be annoying:

    He is a Taylor Swift fan.
    His grandparents settled in Chicago after fleeing anti-Semitism in Russia.
    He graduated summa cum laude as valedictorian from Harvard College and graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School.
    He traveled to Oklahoma City in the aftermath of the bombing to oversee the crime scene investigation prior to serving on the Federal prosecution against Timothy McVeigh.
    He effectively argued an opinion prohibiting Guantanamo Bay detainees from seeking relief in civilian courts, one which was overturned a year later (2003-04).
    Senate Republican Orrin Hatch had advocated for his nomination as early as 2009, arguing that there would be very little partisan opposition to his appointment.
    At 63 years, he is the oldest Supreme Court nominee since Lewis F. Powell, Jr., who was nominated at age 64 by Richard Nixon in 1971.
    He also possesses the most federal judicial experience of any previous Supreme Court nominee, as of 2016.
    President Obama introduced him in his Rose Garden nomination address calling him a ‘nominee who 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.’

Credit: BoyWiththeGreenHair


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 22 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 2635 Votes: 71.80% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 3995 Votes: 49.74% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 498 Votes: 68.07% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 165 Votes: 52.73% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 125 Votes: 56.00% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 175 Votes: 55.43% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 59 Votes: 61.02% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 55 Votes: 70.91% Annoying