Who appointed Merrick B. Garland?

President William J. Clinton appointed Merrick B. Garland to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in 1997.

Was Merrick B. Garland appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?

Merrick B. Garland was appointed by President William J. Clinton, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.

What was Merrick B. Garland's confirmation vote?

The Senate confirmed Merrick B. Garland 76–23 on March 19, 1997.

District of Columbia Circuit / Appointed 1997 / Served to 2021

Merrick B. Garland

Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit

Appointed by President William J. Clinton in 1997 and confirmed by the Senate 76–23, Merrick B. Garland was a Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. He earned a law degree from Harvard Law School in 1977. Opinions & record ↓ Sources ↓

Born: 1952 · age 74
Appointed by: William J. Clinton, 1997
Confirmed: 76–23
Education: Harvard College 1974 · Harvard Law School 1977
Succeeded: Abner Joseph Mikva
Succeeded by: Ketanji Brown Jackson

Federal judicial service

Year	Court	Appointed by	Vote
1997	District of Columbia Circuit succeeded Abner Joseph Mikva	Clinton (D)	76–23

Party letters show the appointing president’s party, not the judge’s own.

Confirmation vote

Nomination Confirmed 76–23 on March 19, 1997 · 105th Congress, Roll Call 34. Each senator links to their judicial-voting record.

Voted to confirm · 76

44 D, 32 R

Voted against · 23

23 R

Did not vote · 1

1 D

John Glenn(D-OH)

Education

Harvard College	A.B.	1974
Harvard Law School	J.D.	1977

Judicial Record

In our data, Garland authored 1 published opinion for the court (2011). Most cited: Little v. King (1 citation).

Published, precedential opinions from the CourtListener corpus. Counts and rankings are objective and recomputable: how we count. We describe the record, not the judge.

Selected opinions

Year	Case	Citation	Cited
2011	Little v. King	768 F. Supp. 2d 56	1

Showing the 1 most-cited of 1 authored opinions in our data. “Cited” is inbound citations across the CourtListener corpus. Case links open the ruling’s full text (CourtListener) or its page here; read the methodology and verify against the primary source.

Questions & answers

Who appointed Merrick B. Garland?: President William J. Clinton appointed Merrick B. Garland to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in 1997.
Was Merrick B. Garland appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?: Merrick B. Garland was appointed by President William J. Clinton, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was Merrick B. Garland's confirmation vote?: The Senate confirmed Merrick B. Garland 76–23 on March 19, 1997.
Which court was Merrick B. Garland on?: Merrick B. Garland was a Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

Sources

Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.

How we source & reconcile data → Data & Sources

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23 years on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).