5 things you need to know about U.S. Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland

On Wednesday President Barack Obama named his nomination to fill the U.S. Supreme Court vacancy: Merrick Garland.

Here are five things you should know about the nominee:

He sold his comic books to pay for Harvard

Garland worked summers and sold his comic book collection to help pay for his education at Harvard. He excelled as a student in both undergrad and law school. He was the valedictorian of his class when he graduated in 1974 with a bachelor's degree in social studies and he went on to be an editor for The Harvard Law Review before graduating in 1977.

He comes from the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals

In 1997, President Bill Clinton appointed Garland to the D.C. Circuit Court, where has remained ever since. He became its chief justice in 2013.

He supervised the prosecution in the Oklahoma City bombing case

As principal associate deputy attorney general in the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, Garland oversaw the prosecution in the case of the Oklahoma City bombings that killed 168 people in 1995. One of the men convicted of the bombings, Timothy McVeigh, was executed for his crimes, while his co-conspirator, Terry Nichols, received life in prison.

He supervised the prosecution the Unabomber case

"Unabomber" Ted Kaczynski received four life sentences after pleading guilty to 13 federal bombing-related charges. His homemade letter bombs killed three people. Garland also supervised the prosecution for that case.

He would be one of the oldest U.S. associate justice to be appointed

If appointed, 63-year-old Garland will one of the oldest associate justices ever appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court.