Merrick Garland is an American lawyer and jurist who is the 86th and current United States attorney general. He was born on November 13, 1952, in Chicago, Illinois, and raised in a suburb outside the city. His mother was Jewish and his father was Protestant. Garland was valedictorian of his public high school class and won scholarships to attend Harvard University, where he graduated summa cum laude, and Harvard Law School, where he received his law degree magna cum laude and served on the Harvard Law Review.

Garlands Jewish identity is typical of that of many American Jews. He had his bar mitzvah at a Conservative synagogue and has credited his parents with instilling in him the desire for public service. According to Jamie Gorelick, who went to college with Garland and worked closely with him in the Justice Department, "His Jewish tradition is one of service". Jay Michaelson, a rabbi and columnist for The Daily Beast and The Jewish Daily Forward who clerked for Garland on the Appeals Court in the late 1990s, said Garland’s Jewish identity is not super religious or observant but very culturally Jewish.

In summary, Merrick Garland is an American lawyer and jurist who was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. His mother was Jewish and his father was Protestant. Garlands Jewish identity is typical of that of many American Jews, and he had his bar mitzvah at a Conservative synagogue.