President Obama nominated Merrick B. Garland to be the nation’s 113th Supreme Court justice. The Supreme Court vacancy follows the death of Antonin Scalia last month. Judge Garland, 63, is viewed as a moderate and has won praise from senior Republican figures. The appointment has to be ratified by the Senate, but its Republican majority has vowed to block a vote on any Supreme Court nominee from Mr Obama. Republicans have called on the president to leave the nomination to his successor, who will be elected in November. The death of Justice Scalia, a staunch conservative, left the nine-member Supreme Court evenly divided between conservatives and liberals.

President Obama said Mr Garland – chief judge of the Washington appeals court and a former prosecutor – enjoyed respect from Democrats and Republicans alike. Announcing the nomination in the White House Rose Garden, Mr Obama praised Mr Garland’s decency, integrity and even-handedness during his long career in public service, and described him as an exemplary judge.

Mr Garland was appointed by Democratic President Bill Clinton in 1997, winning confirmation in a 76-23 Senate vote, and served in the Justice Department during the Clinton administration prior to that.