President Obama thumbed his nose at Republicans on Wednesday morning and picked a replacement for Justice Scalia anyway. What s even better is that he picked someone who is such a centrist that the GOP is going to look really silly when they oppose him.Obama held a press conference in the Rose Garden on Wednesday and announced his support for the chief judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, Merrick Garland, 63, as the next justice of the Supreme Court. President Obama praised the judge in his speech, saying: I have selected a nominee who is widely recognized, not only as one of America s sharpest legal minds, but someone who brings to his work a spirit of decency, modesty, integrity, even-handedness, and excellence. These qualities, and his long commitment to public service, have earned him the respect and admiration of leaders from both sides of the aisle. He will ultimately bring that same character to bear on the Supreme Court, an institution in which he is uniquely prepared to serve immediately. Today I am nominating Chief Judge Merrick Brian Garland to join the Supreme Court. When Justice Scalia passed away in February, the right immediately said that they would oppose anyone who the president chooses to replace him. They have even pledged to not even open their doors for the nominee. This led a lot of pundits to speculate that President Obama would pick a centrist who would make the Republican Party look ridiculous if they opposed his nomination and that is exactly what he did.Garland has spent nineteen years on the federal bench and is not known for deciding things based on his ideological views. Although he is a moderate justice, he has ruled in favor of Republican causes in the past.In 2003, for instance, Garland ruled that Gitmo detainees did not have the right to seek relief in civilian courts. This ruling was so controversial that when his name was floated as a replacement for Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, in 2010, liberals were quick to speak out against him. Meanwhile, the Republican Party praised him as a brilliant  judge. Doug Kendall, president of the progressive Constitutional Accountability Center, said: He s won the admiration of everyone around him by taking the job of a judge seriously and engaging in conversation with his colleagues, rather than confrontation. Carrie Severino of the conservative Judicial Crisis Network, said at the time: of those the president could nominate, we could do a lot worse than Merrick Garland. He s the best scenario we could hope for to bring the tension and the politics in the city down a notch for the summer. This was an incredibly smart move for President Obama. Although liberals are not going to be entirely thrilled with the moderate justice, he is a fine jurist with a long list of accomplishments. However, Republicans are going to have a really hard time opposing a man whom even conservative Orin Hatch has called  a fine man. Ultimately, they will oppose him because they are obstructionists who care little about the Constitution and everything about blocking Obama.Ultimately, they will oppose him because they are obstructionists who care little about the Constitution and everything about blocking Obama. But this will damage their credibility with the American public, maybe not their base, but definitely Independents. All of the intelligent citizens of this country recognize that there is absolutely no place for politics when it comes to the highest court in the land.Watch Obama s speech: Featured image via video screenshot