The article mainly focuses on President Obama’s recent decision to nominate judge Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court of the United States. It talks about the tough road that judge Garland faces in the near future as the members of the Senate tear apart both his life and the lives of his family in a hope to find something to stop his nomination. The article also addresses the apparent inability of the President to appoint someone due to the fact that he is in his last year and seemingly a lame duck president. Being an interview, the article also goes over Obama’s personal opinions on the matter, the interviewing of the candidate to see if he (or she) is fit for the job, and the consequences of refusal. According to the interview, should the Senate refuse to select Garland, a new precedent would be set in which justices could only be confirmed with same party Senates. 
This article is perfect for the Presidential section of unit 4 as it deals with one of the powers specifically given to the POTUS in the Constitution, the power to appoint judges and ambassadors. The fact that this particular judge is so highly contested fits perfectly with the political spectrum of today’s world. The Republican party is losing ground in the federal government, and they are doing everything in their power to prevent the Democrats from taking any of it back. This article focuses heavily on the efforts on the part of the Republicans and that pertains heavily to Congress’s right to the confirmation process, whereby they decide whether or not the appointee is allowed to be confirmed. Also due to today’s political atmosphere, the President can no longer make recess appointments, making this attempted appointment all the more contested. If the President can no longer get appointees through the Senate when they are of the opposite party, it will represent a paradigm shift like none we’ve seen in the modern world. Judges will stop being largely nonpartisan, and more and more the judiciary system will become just as split as the rest of the government. Luckily, the fourth branch of government, or the media, has a lot to say on the matter of the appointment, and hopefully we will have a 9th justice to end these ties. 
Link to Article:http://www.npr.org/2016/03/18/470918125/obama-refusal-to-consider-nominee-damages-publics-faith-in-the-judiciary
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