President. ni well talk about the pick in a moment. First lets bring in nbc justice correspondent pete williams. Pete, what do we know about hima what message the president sending with this copick . The message is hes trying to make it harder for senatew3 republicans to oppose someone well liked and has a goodr expect, matt and savannah, to hear from judge garland when the ceremony beg but the white house is already saying he has more federal judicial experience than any other Supreme Court nominee in history. Pete, that brings me to chuck. Fa certainly, the white house is tryingni to put Senate Republics who vowed nojd to bring any nominee up for acoxdn vote in a tighter spot saying this is known as a noni] ideological judge, a centrist. xlr t hahp this is the best youre going to Supreme Courtdjn appointee. We were told sixwmzvqp s ago, h is the perfect pick if they have 4a lo and niae old, ac republi senate. Anthony kennedy. Right . More center left andq we were discussing before going on, he didnt check a political block withym this one. Being 3w63, this is not the president trying to change theo court for a generation. Republicans to stick by thenb pledge theyre somehow not going to even have a w3hearing. Not even have a hearing, not tzyuatave a Courtesy Call j do . Does he go up to capitol hill and start knocking onfa doors . Probably do that, yes. Theresko 9 he will be well coachedko now byko an entire thats what they normally dot anyway and thats an extra, tra important with this one. They wont meet with him much less as you say holdco ajf vote and try to point up the difference. Maybe try to get pictures of hia knocking on doors that wontco open but theyre certainly going to show the Courtesy Call meetings with democrat a and th democrats you can expect try to play up the differenceq saying the guy should bejf treated wit more respect than this. And judge garland is well respectedxd on both sides of th aisle. The white house is circulating quotes from senator orrin hatch saying how much he nirespects,x appreciates judge garland in republican senators are running for reelection in swing states and blue states and heard these republicans more worried about this issue, obstruction of the court, than donald trump. Okay . And the scariness ofco this. I thinkni theyrexd going to ha hearings, will be a vote. I think its filibustered and probably get over 50. Heres the magic formula if youre the pres eent. Ifq Hillary Clintonco wins in november, garland is confirmed in december. Waiting for the presidenul t come out task force will be the most fa comprehensive, judicial response effort in our partys history. And this is whyq i think the white house wept with Merrick Garland. Hes got a r q skin. That was key here. Was durableni politically. Who could hand what wills goinc to be a hot house. On the other hand, brings me to fapete. You have a judgenos somebody with 20 years of alp judicia,nb record to pick through and i we are about to see president obamafa d judge garland, the nominee to the court, as theymy enter the ceremony. Good morning. C of the many powersyrez responsibilities that the constitution vests in the presidency, few are more Supreme Courtcko justice. Particularly one to succeed justice scalia, one of the most influent jurists of ourco time. The mek and women who sit on th Supreme Court are the final arbitors of american law. They safeguard our rights. n laws and not men. Theyre charged with the applying principles put to paper more than two centuries ago to some of the most challenging questions of our timu3 sook this i f not a responsibil expediency and narrow politics to maintaint faith with our founders and perhaps more importantly with future ge,m ations. Thats why over the past several weeks i have done myfa best to s process. Ive soughttx q advice of republican and democratic memberscow3 of congress. Weve reached out to every member of the Senate Judiciary committee, to constitutional scholars, to groups, bar associations representing a array of interests and opinions from all across the spectrum. And today, after completing thi1 exhaustive process, ive made my widely recognized not only as one of a e icas sharpestxdc leq minds, but someone whoni bringso his work a spirit of decency,nn3 modesty, integri437 even handedness and excellence. R thesee qualities and his long commitment to Public Service have earned him the respect and admiration of leaders from both sides of the aisle. Qt same character to bear on the Supreme Court. An institution in which he isw3 uniquely prepared to serve immediately. Today, i am no, maam nighting chief judge Merrick Brian Garland to join the supreme now, in law enforcementni circl and in the Legal Community at large, judge garlandym needs n introduction but i would like to he already so ablyxdw3q serves. Land of lincoln, in my hometown illinois. His mother volunteered in the fa community. His father ran a Small Business out ofxd their home. He earned a scholarship tonini harvard where he graduated and School Working asnrw3 a tutor, stockingni shoes inni a shoe st and in what y always anr pain moment for any young man, by selling his comic book collection. nixd its tough. Been there. ni qnt laude. First for a judge onc the 2nd circuit, henry friendly, and then Justice William brennan. Following the clerkships, law firm, one that practiced americans. Within four years he earned afa partnership, 4ie dream of most lawyers. But in 1989, just months after that achievement, merrick made r he walked awayf6 z a service. Merrick accepted a low level judge as a federalt prosecutorn president george h. W. Bushs 50 . Traded in his elegant Partners Office for axd windowless close aahat smelled of stale cigarett smoke. This was a time when crime here in washington hade1 reached epidemic proportions and he wanted to help and he quickly made a name for himself ,n goi after corrupt politicians and violent criminals. Prosecutor led him to ther Justice Department where he oversaw some of the most significant pros including overseeing every aspect of the federal response to the Oklahoma City bombing. e in the aftermath of that act of terror,u when 168ko people, maf them small children, were murdered, merrick had one evening to say goodbye to his own youngc daughters before he board add plane to Oklahoma City and remain there for weeks. He worked side by side with he led the investigation andi] supervised the prosecution that just butfafa perhaps most important the way he did it. Throughout the process, merrick the book. ni when people offered to turn over evidence voluntarily,xu q refusd obtaining subpoenas, instead. He would take no chances that technicality. Merrick also made8 effort to reach out to the victims and their nifamilies. ni updating them frequently on the cases progress. Everywhere he went, he carried with his in his briefcase the program of the Memorial Service with each of the victims names why he has to succeed. nixd judge garland has often referred to his work on the Oklahoma City case as, and i quote, thefa mos important thing i have ever done in my life. And through itnr all, he never lost touch with that community that he served. Fai]9 its no surprise then that soon after his work in oklahomafa ci called thelp second highest cou in the land, the d. C. Circuit court. Lpnr during that process, during thaq confirmation process, het earnr overwhelming bipartisan praise from senators and legal experts, alike. Ci]ni republican senator orrin hatch who was then chairman of thexd Senate Judiciary1 l committee supported his nomination. Back then he said, in all honesty, i would like to see one person come toxd this floor and say one reason why merrick g9iand does not deserve thisq position. He actuallyxd accused fellow Senate Republicans trying tozv tahu u judges. Uuc and he has since said that judge garland wofuzco a consensus nominee for the Supreme Court, who would be very well supported by all sides and there would be no questionc merrick would be confirmed with bipartisan support. Ultimately, merrick was confirmed to the d. C. Circuit. The Second Highest Court in the land with votes from a majority of democrats and aq majority of three3w years, he was elevated chief judge. And in his 19 years on the nrni brought hisnr trademark diligeni compassion and unwavering regard for the rule of e w to his work Circuit Court knowncfor lp strongminded judges on bothm. P ends of the spectrum, judge garland hasxd earned ai] trackt record of building consensus as fairminded judge who follows the law. Bring together odd couples, assembleodunlikely coalitions. Persuade colleagues with wide 3tnanging judicial philosophieso sign on to hisfa faopinions. T speaks, i believe, to judget g anands fundamental temperament, his insistence that all views deserve a respectful hearing. His habit t borrow a phrase o former Justice John Paul stevens of understanding before faxd disagreeing. And then disagreeing without persuade, to respond to the concerns of others with sound arguments and airtight logic. As his formert colleague on th d. C. Circuit and oure1 current chief justice of the Supreme Court, johnok roberts, once sai any time judge garland qr at the same time, chief judge garland is more than just a brilliant legal mind. Hes someone who has a keen understanding that justice is about more than abstract legal theory. More than case t book. His life experience, hisr experiences int places like Oklahoma City, informs his view that the law is more than an intellectual exercise. He unders4eds the way law affects the daily reality of peoples lives in a big,ev÷ complicated democracy and rap rapidly changin d lptimes. Andt jf throughout hs juror us ; uea tt is a common thread, avmnlp conviction that in a democracy, powerful voices must not be allowed to drown out the voices of every day americans. Xd to find someone with such a lonq career in Public Service marked by complex and sensitive issues, to find someonecw3 who just abo everyone not only respects but genuinely likes, that is rare. c and itni speaks to who Merrick Garland is, not just a a people respect the waymy he trs others. Come before his court. Mindedness, mentoring his clerks throughout their careers,co urgg them to use the Legal Training b serve their communities, setting his own example tutoring a young student at a xdd. C. Elementary school each year for the past 18 years. Theyre moved by his deep devotion to his family. Lin, his wife of nearly 3 a yes v3dpir two daughter andxdcad jessie. G r t hahp hc loveom of america by visiting the national parks. People respect merricks deep and abiding passion for protecting our mostq basic constitutional rights. Its a passion im manifested itself at an earlyco age and one story is indicative of this. As valedictorian of the high school class, heq hadk7 deliv an address. The first was a fiery critique of theqxd vietnam war. Might result, several parents decided to unplugxde1faq the so system and the rest of the i] students speech was muffled. And merrick didnt necessarily agree with the tonenr of the silenced, he tossed delivered instead on thejf spot passionatexd impromptu defense e ac iu j the beginning of a zv lifelong career as a lawyer and to protecting the rightsf others. And he hasa5 done that workiwr decency and humanity and common sense and a common touch. And im proud that hell continue that work on our i said i would take this process seriously and i did. I]gu i chose a serious man and exemplary judge, Merrick Garland. Over my seven years as president in all my conversations with senators from both parties,xd i which i asked their views oncox qualified Supreme Court nominees, this includes the previous twonr seats that i hado fill, the onenic name that has up repeatedly from republicans and democrats alike is Merrick Garland. ni perhaps theses7 days it never ends. Jfco a political season thats even noisier and more volatile than usual. nr i know that republicans will point to democrats who have made it hard for republican president s to get their nominees confirmed. And theyre not wrong about that. ni meaqrah een politics involved in nominations in the past. Although, it should bexd pointe by a republican president. ni i also know that because of Justice Scalias outsik1q role on the court and in americanni w and the factcow3 that americans closelyw6divided on a number of issues before thet court, it i tempting tojf make this confirmation process simply an extension of our divide the squabbling thats going on in the news every day. Xdfaq be wrong. T it would beok a betrayal of our best traditions. And a betrayal of the vision of our founding documents. At a timexdxd when our politics so polarized, at a time when norms and customs oflp politica rhetoric and courtesyt and comy are so often treated like theyre disposable, this is ni should play it straight. And treat the process of appointing a Supreme Court justice with the seriousness an care it deserves. U really aisxde q unique. Its supposed to be above politics. It has to be. And it should stay that way. To suggest that someone is qualified and respected asok institution as important aslp o Supreme Court when two thirds of americans believe otherwise, that would be unprecedented. Fa to suggest that someone who has served his country withnr honor and digntb, with a distin7u m track record of American People might be treatea as one republicanlpxd leaderxd tomorrow, judge garland will travel to the hill to begin meeting with senators one on one. I]co iko simply askmy Republicans Senate to gieen him a fairco hearing. And then an up or down vote. R only be an abdication of the senatesxd constitutional duty,t will indicate a process for nominating and confirming judges thats beyond repair. Faco itfa will meanco everything is j partisan of politics, everything. It will provoke an endless cycle of more titninr for tat and mak increasingly possible for any democrat, to carry out their constitutional function. The reputation of the Supreme Court will inevitably suffer. ni faith inx zu n Justice System wl inevitably suffer. Our democracy will ultimately suffer, as well. niqjft i]e1 i have f constitutional duty. Now its time for the senate to do theirs. Fa president s do not stop working in the final year of their term. Neither should a senator. I know that tomorrow the senate will take a break and leave town on recess for two t weeks. My earnest hope is senators take process of our e1democracy. Not whats expedient. Not whats happening at the moment. For our common e1life . The seriousnessjf of the job we th fashion. I hopec theyre fair. R thats all. I hope they are fair. As they dide1 when they confirm Merrick Garland to the xdd. C. Circuit. I ask that they confirm Merrick Garland now to the supreme n h time to fully participate in its work for the American People this fall. n is the right man for the job. C he deserves to be confirmed. I could not be prouder of the work that he hasc already done n behalf of the American People. R he deservesi] ourni mythanks. D. And with that, id like to invite judge garland to say a few words. [ applause ]w3koqxdxd thank you, mr. President. This is the greatest honor of my life. Other than lynn agreeing to marry me 28 years ago. Its also the greatest gift ive ever received nrexcept, and theres another caveat, the birth ofco our daughters jessie and becky. As myxdnz ni parents taughtjsnoh words and deeds, a life of Public Service is as much a gif to the person who serves as it is to those he is serving. And for me, there could be no higher Public Service than serving as a member of the United StatesSupreme Court. my family deserves much of the credit for the path this led me here. My grandparents lsgu the pale of settlement at the border of western russia and Eastern Europe in fleeing antisemitism and hoping to make a better life for their theyco settled in the midwest, eventually making their way to chicago. Jfxd there my father who ran the qez Small Businesses me with him as he made the run rounds to his customers, always impressing upon me the importance of hard work and fair dealing. Q there my mother s the local pta and school board and directed a volunteer services c agency, all the while instilling community is a responsibility above all others. Even nowt my sisters honor tha example by serving the children this on television and crying her eyesi] au so are my sisters who have supported me in every step i have ever taken. I onlye1 wish that my father we here to see this today. I also wish that we hadnt taught my older daughter to be so adventurous that she would be ut of cell servicep a9q lp it was sense of serving the led me to leave my lawyer and therei] a firstco assignment to assist in the prosecution of a violent gang that had down to the district from new yorwlqw3 took over a Public Housing and terrorized the residents. The hardest nokni is persuading mothers and grandmothersnr thatf they testified we would be able to keep the and convict the gang me believes. We convinced witnesses and victims to trust that the rule year later ink oklahoma lpcity saw up close the devastation that can happen when someone abandons the Justice System asta wayi] of resolving grievances a instead takesco matters in his n hands. Once again, the assurance of victims and families that the 3 ustice system would work. Wefa promised that we would fin the niperpetrators. That we would bring them to justice and that we dwould it in a way that honored the constitution. The people of Oklahoma City gave and we did everything we could to live up to it. Q in ourjn1 courts without preju orw3 partisanship is what in al large partt distinguishesxd th country fromq others. People must be confident that a judges decisions are determineq trust he or she must be faithful to the constitution and to thex statutes passed by the congress. He or she must put aside his personal views orim eferences and follow the law. Not make it. P,fa fidelity to the constitution and the law has been the qcornerstoe of my professional life. Jfjfi] and its hallmark of the kind of judge i have tried to be for the past 18 years. T t if the senate sees fit to confirm me to the position for which ive bep jf nominated to, i promise to continue course. T mr. President , itst ac great honor to be nominated. Im grateful beyond words for the honor you have bestowed upon m[ncf1 o thank you. Xd and he urged senators to fulfill theirs. Remember, judge Merrick Garland waiting there has been interviewed for this job twice before. And now hes having his williams, it bears repeating that while Supreme Court justice vacancies are rare, vacancies to change the ideological balance of the court are rarer still and that is why the stakes are so high here. No question ant it. And one of the main reasons why the senate is taking the position that it is. If this were replacing, say, one of the courts more liberal members in a democratic administration, we wouldnt probably see anything like this. I have the same thought you do, savannah watching Merrick Garland there. Its always people on the Supreme Court always say that basically lightning has to strike for you to be nominated to the Supreme Court because there are lots of qualified judges throughout the country, qualified people in academia and political life to serve very well. So there has to be a special combination of factors and i got the sense you did watching this that one of the reasons Merrick Garland is so emotional is hes been up to the brink twice before and now its really happening. No only nominated to the United StatesSupreme Court, its actually happening this time when he is in essence twice before been to the altar. Chuck todd is here in the studio with us. Prior to this announcement, chuck, so many on the republican side of the aisle said no way. Not now. No hearings. We dont want to have a meeting. I watched you going over your phone as this was happening. Is there any crack in that . Some crack. I notice roy blunt, a mainstream conservative from missouri saying he would vote against the pick but look what he said. I vote against the pick and said nothing about hearings. Others said in releases im sticking by the pledge of no hearings. No anything. Wait until the election. And for what its worth, the rnc has already put out the first fundraising and how to frame the argument. Clinton judge to Supreme Court. Using the clinton name to rally a conservatives against this pick meaning hillary, of course, not bill. Lightning strike met fore, the only shot of a Republican Senate in a politically difficult time. And the president is walking a tightrope here and may have made the perfect political pick he could have made. Still may not get him but i think its the perfect pick. Think he gets a vote and confirmation . Our thanks to you both. Much more right now on msnbc and nbc news. Com. Of course, there will be a full wrap on nbc nightly news with lester holt. Im matt lauer with savannah guthrie. This has been a nbc news special report. You just heard it. We have breaking news. President obama nominated Merrick Garland for the Supreme Court. Hes the chief judge for the United States court of appeals for the district court. Im barbara harrison. Im keeping a close eye on the metro shut metro buses. Right now, metro rail shut down as crews carefully respect third rail power cables. Been inspecting. President obama as we just said just made a major announcement and listening to but now we are going to talk about metro rail and the shut down. Crews carefully inspecting the third rail cables today. The system will be closed until 5 00 tomorrow morning. Thats the plan. And that is an unprecedented move. The shutdown is forcing more than 700,000 people to stay home or an alternate way to get around. Buses, bikes and caps are among the top choices for people forced off the trains today. News 4s malette green begins our coverage in d. C. Where it all started. Molette . Good morning. Inside source telling me metro is now becoming a system thats proactive about safety. And making it very clear that this shutdown was, in fact, very necessary. And it involved a very comprehensive task of actually going in those tunnels, replacing the cables and any other parts important to keeping those trains running safely. Even removing grass and cleaning debris from the areas that they have been inspecting. Many on the job here since 10 00 last night. We have a crew behind me that just came up from the tunnels at Mcpherson Square. Theyll put in about 14 hours, 14hour day and then another shift will come in and do inspections all over again, checking for things that they need to fix. Thats whats going on below ground. Above ground commuters had to find another way to get around. Delayed train ride to the airport for this di work crews allowed in. I obviously need to get started on the plan b, dont i . Others pedaled on the mild springlike day. Bike Share OfferingFree Membership while regulars got an early start. Actually the regular dock i went to was full. So, yeah, bikes are available. Really extremely busy. Reporter we hopped in a cab and this drivers screen lit up with busier than normal fares coming in. This unprecedented safety shutdown has inspectors checking 600 jumper cables. After an electrical fire and damaged power cable near Mcpherson Square monday, the same type involved a deadly fire situation. Get the lines fixed and make things more safe than to off. I mean, all we need is one more fire, right . Reporter still very early in this process but i am hearing that the crews are feeling very confident about tomorrow, about the reopening of metro tomorrow morning, thursday morning. Of course, thats not official. We have to wait on that from the general manager and the board. If they should find a problem, that could delay tomorrows opening. We will, of course, stay on top of those developments throughout the day as we continue to follow this developing story. Im molette green, live, metro station, news 4. Back to you. All right. Talking again about the metro rail issue today, again, entire metro rail system shut down today. They are saying theyre going to plan to reopen at 5 00 tomorrow morning. Keeping you updated on that one. As far as the road impacts, i would say things started just a little earlier this morning as far as normal morning commute. Otherwise, looking quite good right the evening commute here today. Only real slowdown is southbound near now. Earlier, northbound bw parkway with a work zone on the right side. Now looks like they moved to the southbound side of things. 270 germantown road there, 118, nice and clear. 66 looking quite good and the beltway also no issues. Barbara . Thanks. With metro rail shut down until at least thursday morning, thousands of commuters have to find a way to get to work tomorrow morning and heres the options. Mark and vre today and marc plans to add extra trains. Metro bus running extra service for children this the district. Ride sharing Services Like uber and lyft offering discounts for firsttime users and encouraging people to use the car tool services. Although uber says surge pricing is likely, its capped they tell us. Capital bike share is offerig find a full list offal te afal alternative ways to get to work on our website. Good thing it was a nice day this morning for walkers. Thats what ive saying all morning. Thank goodness we did not have any storms or anything like that. Rain this morning. Snow, i shouldnt even say that. Thank goodness a clear day. A little bit of fog north and west of town and lifted and we are looking at great conditions across the area right now. Maybe a little bit of cloud cover. We are going to see increased cloud cover and isolated showers, maybe a storm later on this afternoon. Cooling down quite a bit. Enjoy the 70s today. We have a cold rain on sunday and temperatures not getting out of the 40s. We are in the 60s. We are going to top out in the low to mid70s today and time out the rain and a peek at the st. Patricks day coming up. Breaking news right now. President obama has just n Supreme Court. Garland is the chief judge of the u. S. Court of appeals here in washington. In the announcement that just ended, the president said he set aside politics for this pick for the Supreme Court. It is tempting to make this confirmation process simply an extension of our divided politics. The squabbling thats going on in the news every day. But to go down that path would be wrong. It would be a betrayal of our best traditions. Garland is graduate of harvard law. He served on the d. C. Circuit for the last 19 years and before that, he made a name for himself as the head of the investigation and the prosecution in the Oklahoma City bombing case. Now to decision 2016 and a look at the results from yesterdays primaries in five states. Er donald trump and Hillary Clinton won their respective primaries in missouri and illinois. Ohio and florida big prizes, though, as the first winner take call primaries for republican president ial hopefuls. In florida an important win for trump, 99 of the sunshine states republican delegates. And Hillary Clinton took the primary for the democrats. In ohio, a big win for governor john kasich. He took the delegates of donald trump forcing a possible fight on the convention floor. Now, again, on the other side, a win for clinton. Trump and clinton won their primaries in north carolina. A major loss in florida means senator marco rubio will not continue his campaign. He was fourth in the other contests last night, as well. Senator rubio thanked the reporters saying 2014 was not his time. Donald trump acknowledged rub rubios loss saying the senator had a Bright Future ahead of him. And we are just Getting Started on our coverage of the big news of the day, metro shutdown which we expect to be over tomorrow morning but we continue to look at whens going on out there today. We have talked about places and ways to get home later this evening. And we are going to tell you about the fun people having on social media with this. We dig deep sbeer we are back with new information on the shutdown. Transportation reporter adam tuss almost half of the 600 electrical cables inspected at this point and sources say some of them have been replaced. As one official put it, proving to be a worthwhile shutdown. Metro is also called in engineers from other Commuter Rail systems and amtrak to help with the inspection effort. Metro plans to hold a News Conference this afternoon to talk about whether it will reopen the system tomorrow as planned. Also, just for some perspective, metro gm in northeast washington walked to work today. And like the gm, many commuters are finding different kinds of ways to get to work. R headache is worth it. Im happy theyre concentrating on safety. Reporter some riders found the buses didnt take them to the exact location. Your job know youre late today . Yes. Two hours late. Reporter this man and colleagues car pool. Doesnt took too bad this morning. Reporter normally in this parking lot, you have to cycle around to find a spot. Today, take your pick. Riders tell us it doesnt even look like hohn the weekends. He needs help getting into the city. I have to call my friend. Reporter in the essence of safety, most people we talked to say theyre satisfied. You think its right call . Safety first. Ride sharing Services Like uber and lyft offering discounts for first time users today and use the car pool services. Uber said surge prices is likely and will be capped at 3. 9 times the usual fee. The company is extending uber pool as a cheaper option for the entire area today. Both uber and lyft say theyre reaching out to the drivers to keep with the expected demand. And metro shut down and that may mean that you will see more bikers on the roads today. Capital bikeshare is offering memberships for 24 hours. You will have to pay if your trip is more than 30 minutes. Today, we want to hear how youre coping. Share pictures and stories on twitter with metro shutdown. Developing right now, investigators are getting ready to search through the remains of this home on woodbridge or trapped inside. The townhouse caught fire this morning on ponderosa court. Firefighter said it is a risk to collapse so no one can go inside until it is deemed safe. Now to the death of a Prince Georges County police officer. There will be a bond hearing today for the men charged in the death of officer colson. He was killed sunday in a shootout with suspect michael ford. Police have charged ford with seconddegree murder. That murder charge is for colsons death and shooting at other officers, cars and an ambulance. Fords two brothers also face attempted murder charges for recording the shootout and driving the alleged shooter to the scene. And developing right now, an American College student may spend 15 years in north korea. Overnight, the countrys highest Court Sentenced the man to 15 years hard labor in he is a student of uva, 21 years old. He was arrested earlier this year apparently for trying to steal a propaganda banner of a thousands of you faced a commute without metro this morning and metro may be shut down but it seems twitter is wide open. Many of you turning to humor to get through the day. This tweet suggests using a very unusual mode of transportation to get to work. Clearly, a harry potter fan there. Now tweeting we riders should ban together and prune all those blossoms from the trees in protest. You cannot do that. You cant blame the blossoms. Not their fault. Take a look at this. Another rider of metro looking to the Cherry Blossoms for some help. Welcome by the way to the hunger games. May the odds be in your favor. So many segues. Lots of you finding riding partners. To check out other ways to get around the area today, head to the nbc washington app. Were back in 60 seconds. A lot of you probably want to know more about Merrick Garland who president obama just nominated for the Supreme Court. Well, right now, garland is chief young here in d. C. Sometimes called the Second Highest Court in the land because judges regularly hear cases on National Security and federal policy. Garland is 63 years old and in other words he is not considered a young candidate who will have a longterm influence on the court. He also went to Harvard Law School and he called the nomination a greatest moment of his life except for his wife agreed to marry him. Im finally glad to see the weather is warming up again. Lauren rick its with more on what to expect for the rest o good morning. Good morning. We are looking at a warmup today. As we continue into the weekend, temperatures are going to fall. So, definitely eat some lunch outside today. Plenty of sunshine now. A few clouds filling in later. We could have a chance for some showers or thunderstorms rolling through the region with the weak frontal system. Atmosphere really stable right now and not expecting anything widespread and we could have an isolated thunderstorm and i want to mention it with so many car tons roadways getting into the evening. Now, we do have clearing skies in the overnight. Temperatures fairly mild as we go into the evening but overnight the 40s to right around 50. You can see a few dots on the future cast. 4 45 p. M. And we have a few clouds, moving in pretty quick and move out pretty quick and clear by the overnight and 11 00 temperatures still mild and 50s here in d. C. 40s elsewhere. Thursday. We could have a passing shower, as well, for your st. Patricks day. Heres a look at the forecast. Passing shower possible. But again, temperatures are going to be in the 60s. We will have some sunshine around and a few clouds, looking good. Well be breezy thursday and friday. Friday temperature in the upper 50s. Not out of the 40s for a lot of places saturday. Definitely not out of the 40s for the first day of spring and wet snow maybe. Not expecting any accumulation. Guys . Thank you. Washington capitals proving theyre the real thing. Saucer pass. Ovechkin, scores the caps had the best record in the nhl and with that win they clenched a spot in the playoffs this year. Theyll face off a Wild Card Team when the postseason starts next month. They have about a dozen games left in the regular season. Their next game is this friday if you want to find a happy place to live, think of moving to denmark. Thats right. That nation overtook switzerland for the top spot as the worlds happiest places coming from the 2016 World Happiness report. Iceland rounded out the top three joyful spots. The United States came in number 13 in this survey. The key ingredients to happiness include longer life expectan expectancies, more social support and freedom to make lifes choices. A little girl with cancer is fighting a aggren aggressive fo the disease and teaching the classmates, teachers and her family a lot about life. Sadie has missed most of the school year but that doesnt mean students and staff at laurel ridge elementary in fairfax forgotten her. How can you . She is amazing. Yesterday she gave a lesson in living life to the fullest. She helped her classmates make bucket lists for what her teacher told us the event is one example of the special relationship sadie has with her classmates. The thoughtfulness and care that they have shown, that its been an amazing experience not only for sadie but also for the 29 other students in my class. The event, you see the applause, talked about being positive and doing your best. She wants her classmates to set goals, dream big and to not take life for granted. Great lesson for any of us. Go, sadie. First lady obama is hosting a panel at the south by southwest festival in texas and talking about girls education. This morning she also released a brand new song for her initiative called 62 million girls. Beauty in your soul is what makes you beautiful an there is zendaya. 62 million, girls worldwide not enrolled in school and this initiatives works to change that number. Joining the first daily on the panel, a chicago p. D. And the woman who wrote the song diane warren. The song is available on itunes. A new warning that some march madness pools may be against the law. In this case, a very specific group asked not to put money on the brackets this year. Lieutenant paradis with a blog on the navy blog and not allowed to gamble on federal property or naval you knits. Well, she wrote that creating a bracket is okay as long as there isnt any money involved. And as we take a live look outside right now, finally the sun is back and the weather is warming up after a couple of dreary days. Thank you for joining us. Were back on the air first at metro rail shutdown. Dont forget weather updates, when you build one of the biggest Retail Businesses in america, you spend a lot of time working closely with elected officials. From secretaries to president s you learn what works in government and what doesnt. And if youre david trone you take those lessons all the way to congress. You pledge to take nothing from pacs or corporations because the only special interest a congressman should have is you and hell promise to work with anyone if itll get things done. After all hes spent 30 years working both sides of the aisle. Im david trone and i approve this message. Announcer today on the Meredith Vieira show whats hot now. Why actor jason biggs has a problem with the way his wife dress. And kanye west latest fashions are raising eyebrows. Will his t shirt be the new trend and slum dog millionaire. And how she was trauma toyed by a teletubby. And they have hits to help you create the next amazing app. That starts next on meredith. Makes you feel