April 07--President Barack Obama is in Chicago Thursday to talk with law students at the University of Chicago, where he'll press his case for a confirmation vote on his Supreme Court nominee, Illinois native Merrick Garland.
The visit is a homecoming for the president, who served as a professor and senior lecturer on constitutional law at the U. of C. Law School before he was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2004. It also offers a venue for Obama to apply pressure on the Senate to take up his nomination of Garland, which the Republican-controlled chamber has so far refused to do.
Garland is chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. He was born in Chicago and grew up in suburban Lincolnwood.
The visit comes after Republican Sen. Mark Kirk last month became the first from his caucus to meet with Garland. Kirk, who is up for re-election this year against Democratic U.S. Rep. Tammy Duckworth, said he thinks the Senate "should be doing our job" and should consider Garland's nomination.
