If Merrick Garland were the best-case scenario for an Obama nomination to the Supreme Court, Republicans still would do well to let his nomination die on the vine as a strike against Barack Obama’s imperial pretensions, irrespective of Judge Garland’s particular merits.
But Merrick Garland is not the best-case scenario.
The National Federation of Independent Businesses has issued an evaluation of his judicial career, and suggests that he is overly deferential to regulatory agencies and to executive-branch power. You may read the history differently, but it is worth taking that perspective into consideration, if not for guidance in this nomination, which should be blocked in any case, then for guidance in the next one.
The Washington Times expands on the NFIB report here.