Today, Chief Judge Garland submitted a questionnaire to the Senate Judiciary Committee. Note, that the Committee didn’t ask him to complete one. As best as I can tell, he simply completed the same questionnaire used by Justice Kagan. In any event, there are a few interesting bits of information.
First, he sketches out (in some detail) the process that led to his nomination after Justice Scalia’s passing on February 16:
On February 29, 2016, I was called by Neil Eggleston, White House Counsel, and Brian Deese, Senior Advisor to the President, to ask whether I was willing to be considered for nomination as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. Later that day, I was called by Michael Bosworth, Deputy Counsel to the President; Sarah Baker, Associate Counsel to the President; and Janet Kim, Deputy Associate Counsel to the President. Between that day and the day of my nomination, I had frequent contact with those individuals, as well as occasional contact with Eric Schultz, Principal Deputy Press Secretary; Jacek Pruski, Principal Deputy Associate Counsel to the President; Rakesh Kilaru, Associate Counsel to the President; and Zealan Hoover, Special Assistant to the Senior Advisor to the President. On March 4, I met with Mr. Eggleston, Mr. Deese, and Mr. Bosworth. Later that day, I also met with Ms. Kim and Mr. Pruski. I was interviewed by the President on March 9. On March 14, 2016, the President called to say that he intended to nominate me to the Supreme Court.
Second, Judge Garland “outs” his unsigned Harvard Law Review notes (these were probably in his Circuit-court questionnaire):
Commercial Speech, Supreme Court, 1975 Term, 90 Harv. L. Rev. 142 (1976) (collaborative student note).
State Action Exemption and Antitrust Enforcement Under the Federal Trade Commission Act, 89 Harv. L. Rev. 715 (1976) (collaborative student note).
Third, he was a research assistant to Charles Nesson from 1975-77, although there he does not list any publications from Nesson that he contributed to. That does not surprise me. He does list several pieces he edited as a research assistant for Phillip Areeda, as well as note that he worked on Justice Brennan’s famous article about state constitutional law.
Fourth, for the last few years, he has hosted the Yale and Harvard Chapters of the American Constitution Society at the D.C. Circuit to answer questions. He does not include any notes or remarks from those visits.
Fifth, he has done a number of events with the Federalist Society, including a panel at the National Lawyers Conventions in 2012, 2008, 2007, and 2005.