SCOTUS Pick Has Connection to North Shore Case

Beverly, MA - Merrick Garland, President Barack Obama's nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court, has a connection to a 2011 case on the North Shore.

Garland was part of a three-judge panel that sided with Beverly Hospital after the hospital challenged reimbursements it received from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for services it provided to low-income beneficiaries, according to a report in Modern Healthcare.

The judges, including Garland, agreed with Beverly Hospital's contention that a 2008 administrative appeal by the HHS Secretary led to Beverly Hospital being undercompensated.

The 2011 case was one of several healthcare-related cases Garland has been involved in.

Garland is currently the chief justice of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.

Garland, 63, is a Harvard Law School who clerked for Justice William Brennan, and worked as a prosecutor and in private practice at Arnold & Porter, where he was named a partner. He also taught antitrust at Harvard Law School in 1986.

His positions in the Justice Department included a leadership role in the department’s criminal division and a stint as principal associate deputy attorney general.

Photo: Screenhot of President Obama with Justice Merrick Garland from White House YouTube channel.