President Barack Obama will nominate federal appeals court judge Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court, congressional sources said Wednesday. The pick sets up a confrontation with Republicans who say they will refuse to consider his nomination in an election year.

Garland, 63, is the chief judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, a court whose influence over federal policy and national security matters has made it a proving ground for potential Supreme Court justices.

He would replace conservative, Justice Antonin Scalia, who died last month, leaving behind a bitter election-year fight over the future of the court.

The congressional sources spoke on condition of anonymity because Obama had not yet announced his choice. A White House official confirmed it was Garland. Obama planned to introduce his pick at 11 a.m. in the White House Rose Garden.

Garland was confirmed to the D.C. Circuit in 1997 with backing from a majority in both parties, including seven current Republicans senators.

Garland coordinated the Justice Department’s response to the Okalahoma City terrorist bombing in 1995, starting the case against the bombers and eventually supervising their prosecution, according to The New York Times.

He went to the scene and was present as bodies were being pulled out of the wreckage, said Jamie S. Gorelick, then the deputy attorney general.

“At the time, he said to me the equivalent of ‘Send me in, coach,’” Gorelick said. “He worked around the clock, and he was flawless.”

Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, the No. 3 Democratic leader called Garland’s section, “a bipartisan choice,” adding: “If the Republicans can’t support him, who can they support?”

If confirmed, Garland would be expected to align with the more liberal members, but he is not viewed as down-the-line liberal. Particularly on criminal defense and national security cases, he’s earned a reputation as centrist, and one of the few Democratic-appointed judges Republicans might have a fast-tracked to confirmation — under other circumstances.

The president sent an early morning email to supporters, saying he had devoted a “considerable amount of time and deliberation to this decision” and consulted with outside experts and groups.

“In putting forward a nominee today, I am fulfilling my constitutional duty. I’m doing my job,” Obama wrote. “I hope that our senators will do their jobs, and move quickly to consider my nominee.”

Read more at JETMag.com.