Reprinted with permission from Alternet

President-elect Joe Biden has decided to nominate Judge Merrick Garland for U.S. attorney general, according to Politico sources. Three Politico reporters — Tyler Pager, Josh Gerstein and Kyle Cheney — are reporting that Biden has chosen Garland over former Sen. Doug Jones (D-AL) and former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates.

In 2016, then-President Barack Obama nominated Garland for the U.S. Supreme Court following the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, much to the consternation of Democrats, refused to even consider Obama's nominee or bring the nomination to the Senate floor. President-elect Joe Biden, however, will have a different political environment than Obama in 2016, as Democrats appear headed for a majority in the U.S. Senate.