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ByKathleenHennessey The Associated Press WASHINGTON Ignoring Republican threats, Presi- dent Barack Obama nomi- nated appeals court judge Merrick Garland to the Su- preme Court on Wednes- day, thrusting a respected moderate jurist and former prosecutor into the center of an election-year clash over the future of the na- tion's highest court. Obama cast the 63-year- old Garland as "a serious man and an exemplary judge" deserving of a full hearing and a Senate con- firmation vote, despite Re- publican vows to deny him both. Standing in the White House Rose Garden with Garland, Obama argued the integrity of the court was at stake and appealed to the Senate to "play it straight" in filling the seat left vacant by the death of Justice An- tonin Scalia. "It's supposed to be above politics," Obama said of the high court. "It has to be. And it should stay that way." Republican leaders, how- ever, held to their refusal to consider any nominee, say- ing the seat should be filled by the next president after this year's election. Senate Majority Leader Mitch Mc- Connell spoke with Gar- land by phone but did not change his position that "the American people will have a voice." He said he would not be holding "a perfunctory meeting but he wished Judge Garland well," a spokesman said. Still, some in the GOP ranks were wary of sticking to a no-hearing, no-vote, not-even-meeting stance. Garland was to talk by phone to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, and four other Republican senators — Jeff Flake of Arizona, Susan Collins of Maine, James Inhofe of Oklahoma and Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, also said they would meet with him. The judge will visit senators on Thursday at the Capitol, be- fore the Senate breaks for a two-week recess. The White House said that was evidence Garland's weighty resume and bipar- tisan credentials were put- ting pressure on Republi- cans. Garland, 63, is the chief judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the Dis- trict of Columbia Circuit, a court whose influence over federal policy and national security matters has made it a proving ground for po- tential justices. A graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School, Garland has clerked for two appointees of Re- publican President Dwight D. Eisenhower — the liberal Justice William Brennan Jr. as well as Judge Henry J. Friendly, for whom Chief Justice John Roberts also clerked. As a federal pros- ecutor, he made his reputa- tion overseeing the investi- gation and prosecutions in the Oklahoma City bomb- ing case in 1995, as well as the case against Una- bomber Ted Kaczynski. When confirmed to the D.C. Circuit in 1997, Gar- land won backing from a majority in both parties, including seven current Re- publicans senators. As a replacement for Scalia, Garland would un- doubtedly shift the court away from its conservative tilt. He would be expected to align with the more lib- eral members on environ- mental regulation, labor disputes and campaign fi- nance. But he is not viewed as a down-the-line liberal. Par- ticularly on criminal de- fense and national security cases, he's earned a rep- utation as centrist with a law-and-order streak, sid- ing more often with pros- ecutors. When his name was floated for the Su- preme Court in the past, it was liberal groups that ex- pressed concerns, pointing to early decisions favoring the government in disputes over the legal rights of de- tainees at the Guantanamo Bay prison. Those cases are part of why the nomination risks deflating some of the energy among the Demo- cratic base. Progressives and civil rights activists had pushed the president to name an African-Ameri- can woman or to otherwise expand the court's diver- sity. The president passed over appeals court Judge Sri Srinivasan, who would have been the first Asian-Ameri- can justice, and Judge Paul Watford, who would have been the second African- American. Garland — a white, male jurist with an Ivy League pedigree and a career largely in the upper echelon of Washington's le- gal elite — breaks no barri- ers. At 63, he would be the oldest Supreme Court nomi- nee since Lewis Powell, who was 64 when he was con- firmed in 1971. The White House said Garland underwent a phys- ical and is in good health, but said Obama didn't oth- erwise consider age a fac- tor. Until now, Garland has been something of a perpet- ual bridesmaid, repeatedly on Obama's Supreme Court lists but never chosen. In emotional remarks in the Rose Garden, he choked back tears, calling the nom- ination "the greatest honor of my life." He described his grandparents' flight from anti-Semitism in Eastern Europe and his modest up- bringing. He said he viewed a judge's job as a mandate to set aside personal prefer- ences and "follow the law, not make it." The White House aimed to portray him as stellar legal mind with a com- mon touch and a knack for building consensus. Obama quoted past praise for Gar- land from Roberts and Sen. Orrin Hatch. In 2010, Hatch said he could be confirmed to the highest court "virtu- ally unanimously." Garland has experience with a prolonged confir- mation process. He waited 2½ years to win confirma- tion to the appeals court. Then, as now, one of the men blocking his path was Grassley, who argued he had no quarrel with Gar- land's credentials but ob- jected to a Democratic pres- ident trying to fill an ap- peals court he felt had too many seats. Grassley ulti- mately relented, although he was not one of the 32 Republicans who voted in favor of Garland's confir- mation. Nor was McCon- nell. The Republicans who voted in favor of confirma- tion were Hatch, Dan Coats of Indiana, Thad Cochran of Mississippi, Susan Col- lins of Maine, Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, John McCain of Arizona and Pat Roberts of Kansas. ELECTION YEAR ObamanominatesGarlandtohighcourt,challengingGOP PABLOMARTINEZMONSIVAIS—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS Federal appeals court judge Merrick Garland stands with President Barack Obama as he is introduced as Obama's nominee for the Supreme Court during an announcement in the Rose Garden of the White House on Wednesday. By Josh Lederman The Associated Press WASHINGTON By nom- inating an uncontrover- sial 63-year-old judge, President Barack Obama handed Republicans an unwelcome election-year proposition: Give in or risk letting Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump pick a Su- preme Court justice the GOP might like even less. Obama's selection of ap- pellate judge Merrick Gar- land landed with a bang the morning after primaries in Florida, Ohio and other key states made clear that Clinton and Trump will be their parties' presiden- tial candidates, barring ex- traordinary circumstances. Obama described Garland as an evenhanded consen- sus-builder, all but daring Republicans to block him and face uncertain conse- quences from voters. Republican leaders dug in on their insistence that the next president get to choose the replacement for the late Antonin Scalia, the influential conservative and high court's most pro- vocative member. Senate Majority Leader Mitch Mc- Connell called it "an issue where we can't agree." Yet there's a glaring wildcard for Republicans: Obama's successor could be a Democrat. Republicans loathe Clin- ton, but they recognize that if she wins the presidency, she could nominate some- one far more liberal than Garland, who's regarded as a centrist. At the same time, the GOP establish- ment is extremely wary of the unpredictable Trump and desperate for an al- ternative. A Democratic victory at the presidential level could be accompanied by a return of the Senate to Democratic control, fur- ther complicating Repub- licans' ability to prevent Democrats from getting their way. Republicans are fighting their toughest Sen- ate races this year in states like New Hampshire, Wis- consin and Illinois where Democrats are hoping in- dependent-minded voters will be turned off by the GOP's hardline position. NotonlydomanyRepub- licans fear a Trump nomi- nation would spell electoral doom for the GOP up and down the ballot, many con- servatives doubt Trump is really one of them. Trump's suggestion Wednesday that he's mainly taking policy advice from "myself" fueled further uncertainty about just what kind of justice he would pick. It's a theme Democrats are already seizing as they pressure Republicans to re- lent and use their opposi- tion against them in the election. Within minutes of Gar- land's nomination, Sen- ate Democratic leader Harry Reid accused Re- publicans of "blindly tak- ing their marching orders" from Trump, an argu- ment echoed by the Demo- cratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. Dan Pfeiffer, Obama's former senior ad- viser, said the combination of Garland's profile and a looming Trump nomina- tion had cranked up pres- sure on Senate Republi- cans. "The idea that they are blocking the president's qualified pick in order to pave the way for Trump's is going to be a very pow- erful argument that will be deployed endlessly" in states that Obama won, Pfeiffer said. Clinton's string of recent primary wins added an- other element of intrigue to the Supreme Court fight. If she's elected and Demo- crats recapture the Senate, Republicans might see the writing on the wall and opt to confirm Garland during a lame-duck session before Clinton takes office. "I think that's self-ev- ident," said Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake, one of the only Republicans agreeing to even meet with Obama's nominee. "Between him and somebody that a Pres- ident Clinton might nomi- nate, I think the choice is clear." Clinton, in her re- sponse to Obama's nom- ination, praised Garland as a "brilliant legal mind" and urged senators to con- firm him. Neither she nor her campaign would say whether, if she inherits the vacancy, she'd be inclined to re-nominate Garland or choose her own nominee. No Republican has yet broken with McConnell by calling for Garland to get a vote, though Sen. Su- san Collins, a Maine mod- erate, called for a hearing. A few Republicans facing tough races — including New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte — said they would meet with Garland, in what the White House saw as an early sign of hope. At 63, Garland may also be an easier sell than had Obama chosen a younger candidate for the life- time post. Two other fed- eral judges that Obama se- riously considered — Sri Srinivasan and Paul Wat- ford — are both under 50. Yet Obama's safe-bet pick may have denied Dem- ocrats the chance to gin up excitement among liberals whose engagement is crit- ical to Democratic elec- toral success. Liberal ad- vocacy group CREDO la- mented that Garland's background "does not sug- gest he will be a progres- sive champion," while De- mocracy for America called it a "deeply disappointing" nomination designed to "appease intransigent Re- publicans rather than in- spire the grassroots." "Even if there are some critics on the left, those aren't the people who are preventing Judge Garland from getting a hearing," said Ron Klain, a former Obama aide and top White House lawyer under Pres- ident Bill Clinton. "If this is not going to proceed, it's not a problem of Demo- crats' making." SCOTUS Analysis: Obama dares GOP to let Clinton, Trump pick justice NATIONAL SECURITY CAROLYN KASTER — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton pauses as she speaks during an election night event at the Palm Beach County Convention Center in West Palm Beach, Fla., Tuesday. By Michael Biesecker The Associated Press WASHINGTON Newly re- leased emails show a 2009 request to issue a secure government smartphone to then-Secretary of State Hill- aryClintonwasdeniedbythe National Security Agency. A month later, she began using private email accounts accessed through her Black- Berry to exchange messages with her top aides. Themessagesmadepublic Wednesdaywereobtainedby Judicial Watch, a conserva- tivelegaladvocacygroupthat has filed numerous lawsuits seeking the release of federal documents related to Clin- ton's tenure as the nation's topdiplomat.TheDemocratic presidentialfront-runnerhas come under intense scrutiny for her decision to use a pri- vate email server located in thebasementofherNewYork home to route messages, in- cludingsomecontainingsen- sitive information. Security experts have raised concern the arrangement could have left the messages vulnerable to attack by hackers, includ- ingthoseworkingforforeign intelligence agencies. Clinton's desire for a se- cure "BlackBerry-like" de- vice, like that provided to President Barack Obama, is recounted in a series of Feb- ruary 2009 exchanges be- tween high-level officials at the State Department and NSA. Clinton was sworn in assecretarythepriormonth, and had become "hooked" on reading and answering emails on a BlackBerry she used during the 2008 presi- dential race. "We began examining op- tions for (Secretary Clinton) withrespecttosecure'Black- Berry-like'communications," wroteDonaldR.Reid,thede- partment'sassistantdirector for security infrastructure. "The current state of the art is not too user friendly, has no infrastructure at State, and is very expensive." Reid wrote that each time they asked the NSA what so- lution they had worked up to provide a mobile device to Obama, "we were politely told to shut up and color." Resolving the issue was given such priority as to re- sult in a face-to-face meet- ing between Clinton chief of staff Cheryl Mills, seven se- nior State Department staff- ers with five NSA security experts. According to a sum- mary of the meeting, the re- quest was driven by Clin- ton's reliance on her Black- Berry for email and keeping trackofhercalendar.Clinton chose not to use a laptop or desktop computer that could have provided her access to email in her office, accord- ing to the summary. Stan- dardsmartphonesarenotal- lowed into areas designated as approved for the handling of classified information, such as the block of offices used by senior State Depart- ment officials, known by the nickname "Mahogany Row" for the quality of their pan- eling. Mills said that was in- convenient,becausetheyhad to leave their offices and re- trieve their phones to check messages. 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