U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin has joined fellow Democrats and advocacy groups calling on Senate Republicans to give President Barack Obama's Supreme Court nominee a confirmation hearing and timely vote.
Obama nominated Chicago native Merrick Garland to fill a vacancy created by the death last month of Antonin Scalia. Scalia was a leading conservative and many Republicans have said a new president elected in November, not Obama, should pick the nominee.
Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, calls Garland "an outstanding attorney and jurist with an admirable list of accomplishments."
Others urging a Senate confirmation hearing and vote include U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley, a Chicago Democrat; Environmental Law & Policy Center Executive Director Howard Learner, and Equality Illinois, an Illinois group advocating lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights.
U.S. Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland was born in Chicago and while in high school in nearby Skokie was a "brilliant" student who excelled in everything from theater to debating.
The Niles West High School's 1970 yearbook shows Garland took part in a host of activities and received a number of honors by the time he graduated.
He was president of the student council his senior year after serving as vice president his junior year. He was named a member of the National Honor Society and named an Illinois State Scholar.
Fellow student Steve Fenchel - who is now a dentist - says that despite Garland's obvious intelligence and success it was "impossible not to like him" because he was so gracious and willing to mentor others.
