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The chief judge for the Washington, D.C. appeals court was confirmed in 1997 by 76-23 after being appointed by former President Bill Clinton.

At least seven of the Republican senators who confirmed Garland are still in office, including Sens. Dan Coats, Thad Cochran, Susan Collins, Orrin Hatch, Jim Inhofe, John McCain and Pat Roberts.

Hatch has perhaps offered the most visible praise for Garland among those senators. But he released a statement Wednesday saying he still believes candidates should wait for the next president to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia.

"I think highly of Judge Garland. But his nomination doesn't in any way change current circumstances," he said. "I remain convinced that the best way for the Senate to do its job is to conduct the confirmation process after this toxic presidential election season is over."

Earlier this week, the Utah Republican suggested Obama nominate Garland.

"(Obama) could easily name Merrick Garland, who is a fine man," Hatch said in Newsmax, adding later, "He probably won't do that because this appointment is about the election."

Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad wrote a letter to a fellow Republican, Sen. Chuck Grassley, in 1997 to say that Garland had "a distinguished legal career."

"I am writing to ask your support and assistance in the confirmation process for a second cousin ... Merrick Garland has had a distinguished legal career," he wrote, according to the Congressional Record.

During his own confirmation hearings, Chief Justice John G. Roberts, who was nominated by President George W. Bush, praised Garland's judgment.

"Any time Judge Garland disagrees, you know you're in a difficult area," Roberts said in 2005. "And the function of his dissent, to make us focus on what we were deciding and to make sure that we felt we were doing the right thing, I think was well-served. But Judge Garland disagreed, and so it's obviously, to me, a case on which reasonable judges can disagree."

Garland is "an intelligent, experienced and even-handed individual," according to former Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating, a Republican who found Garland's work on the Oklahoma City bombing case particularly notable and inspiring.

"Last April, in Oklahoma City, Merrick was at the helm of the Justice Department's investigation following the bombing of the Oklahoma City Federal Building, the bloodiest and most tragic act of terrorism on American soil," Keating wrote to then-Republican presidential nominee Bob Dole in 1996, according to the Congressional Record. "During the investigation, Merrick distinguished himself in a situation where he had to lead a highly complicated investigation and make quick decisions during critical times. Merrick Garland is an intelligent, experienced and evenhanded individual."

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Republicans have repeatedly praised Merrick Garland