WASHINGTON: Sri Srinivasan could become the first Indian-American to be on the bench of the US Supreme Court after conservative icon Justice Antonin Scalia’s sudden death gave rise to speculation that President Barack Obama may nominate the moderate judge who enjoys impeccable bipartisan support.
Chandigarh-born Srikanth ‘Sri’ Srinivasan, 48, tops the list of prospective justice to the country’s highest judicial body as Obama said he plans to fulfill his “constitutional responsibilities to nominate a successor” to Scalia.
“Any list begins with Sri Srinivasan, a member of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit – a traditional launching pad for Supreme Court nominees,” the CNN reported today.
“There’s always a short-list of potential justices that court experts and watchers have in their heads; Obama will be cognisant that he is replacing a conservative icon and that might temper his choices, leading him to try to find someone that at least some Republicans in Congress might find acceptable,” it said.
The moderate DC Circuit Court of Appeals judge, has already been labeled Obama’s “Supreme Court nominee in waiting,” by Jeffrey Toobin, legal analyst for CNN and The New Yorker.
At a time of bitter political divide when it would be tough for Obama to get through his nomination, Congressional experts pointed that Srinivasan’s nomination as a federal judge was confirmed by the Senate in 2013 with a record 97-0 votes including the two Republican presidential aspirants – Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio.
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