Joe Biden reportedly has just announced his pick for Attorney General, perhaps with supreme irony.

Biden is picking Merrick Garland, the man who Barack Obama nominated for the Supreme Court but who was not given a hearing by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell because Republicans were in the Senate Majority.

Garland has been on the federal appeals court in Washington DC since 1997. He also worked in private practice, was a federal prosecutor, a senior official in the DOJ’s criminal division, and as the principal associate deputy attorney general.

Many on the left and in media (yes, I know, redundant) are kvelling over the choice.

Merrick Garland being nominated to attorney general as Mitch McConnell, who stopped him from having a chance at being a Supreme Court justice, loses his Senate majority leader title is some weird full-circle stuff.

— Kathryn Watson (@kathrynw5) January 6, 2021

More unbiased CNN:

The nomination of Merrick Garland is yet more evidence that revenge is a dish best served cold

— Chris Cillizza (@CillizzaCNN) January 6, 2021

Merrick Garland as Attorney General would be a daily reminder of how his intended seat on the Supreme Court was stolen from him in 2016.

— Michael Beschloss (@BeschlossDC) January 6, 2021

What utter nonsense. You don’t own a seat. You don’t get it automatically because a president nominates. If the Senate is in opposition they don’t have to approve you and it’s their prerogative to reject you. That’s the Constitution. If you don’t like how Garland was handled, then blame Harry Reid for all he did to cause that.

Some were upset that Biden picked more of a centrist and not a leftist. Garland was selected over other contenders for the job including former Alabama senator Doug Jones, who lost his Senate seat last month, and former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates.

Merrick Garland is a pretty middling centrist. His appointment as AG compared to more progressive candidates is a win for conservatives who suddenly find themselves without power.

— Katelyn Burns (@transscribe) January 6, 2021

So President-elect Biden held his A.G. pick in suspense until after the Georgia Senate result seemed clear for a Democratic takeover in order to choose not Trump-kicking Georgian Sally Yates or civil rights hero Doug Jones, who prosecuted Klansmen but rather … Merrick Garland? pic.twitter.com/cDl4Wi0d9N

— Joy WE VOTED!! WEAR A MASK!! Reid 😷) (@JoyAnnReid) January 6, 2021

But one has to wonder if Biden really wanted to stick it in McConnell’s face or achieve synchronicity, why isn’t he holding Garland for the Supreme Court pick that would likely arise if Justice Stephen Breyer retires? Saving the seat for more of a leftist?