President Barack Obama next week will return home to the University of Chicago Law School, where he once taught, to discuss why it is important that Merrick Garland is confirmed to the Supreme Court, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
The Sun-Times reported that Obama will use the appearance to discuss the importance of the Supreme Court and its integrity. Last week, Vice President Joe Biden argued Senate Republicans were hurting the country by refusing to hold a hearing to consider Garland's nomination. Though some Senate Republicans have recently indicated they would meet with Garland, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has said the next president should fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court that opened after the death of Antonin Sclia.
Garland also has Chicago roots and grew up in Lincolnwood. The University of Chicago Law School also has a connection to the Supreme Court, having counted Scalia and Justice Elena Kagan among its faculty. Former Justice John Paul Stevens also attended the school as an undergraduate.
Obama taught at the law school from 1992 until 2004 and has stayed in his nearby Hyde Park home when he has traveled to Chicago during his presidency. Last year, he announced his presidential library will be on the South Side of Chicago, where the University is located.
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