The president had been considering three finalists – federal appellate judges Sri Srinivasan, Merrick Garland and Paul Watford – a person familiar with the matter said earlier this week.
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Republicans, who control the U.S. Senate, have vowed not to hold confirmation hearings or an up-or-down vote on any nominee picked by the Democratic president for the lifetime position on the court.
He served as law clerk to Judge Henry J. Friendly of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and to Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan Jr.
To fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court bench following the sudden deathof Justice Antonin Scalia in February, among the most possible names could be Srinivasan or Garland, 63, a source said.
“If you don’t, then it will not only be an abdication of the Senate’s constitutional duty, it will indicate a process for nominating and confirming judges that is beyond fix”, Obama said Wednesday. I’ve consulted with legal experts and people across the political spectrum, both inside and outside government.
Obama already has named two justices to the Supreme Court: Sotomayor, who at 55 became the first Hispanic justice in 2009, and Elena Kagan, who was 50 when she became the fourth woman to ever serve on the court in 2010.
The Atlantic added that these rumored candidates would want to be nominated, because that would mean they have to subject themselves to what amounts to a public colonoscopy with uncertain prospects of actually being confirmed to serve on the court. “I chose a serious man and an exemplary judge, Merrick Garland”, he said.
Chandigarh-born Mr. Srinivasan whose parents migrated to the United States in 1970s, was confirmed by the U.S. Senate by a huge 97-0 votes in May 2013.
They “should recognize the limits of the judiciary’s role”, have “a commitment to impartial justice rather than any particular ideology”, and “interpret the law, not make law”.
However, I know there will be cases before the Supreme Court in which the law is not clear. The issue wasn’t Garland, Iowa Republican Sen.
Obama credited his nominee for leading the investigation and supervising the prosecution of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh. The aim is to bolster Senate Republicans’ strategy of denying consideration of Obama’s nominee.
Mr. Obama, in a written statement, said he would put forth a candidate who is “not only eminently qualified to be a Supreme Court Justice, but deserves a fair hearing, and an up-or-down vote”.
“It is a president’s constitutional right to nominate a Supreme Court justice, and it is the Senate’s constitutional right to act as a check on a president and withhold its consent”, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said on the Senate floor Wednesday after Obama’s announcement. “I’m doing my job”, Obama wrote.
Ahead of Obama’s announcement, the Republican Party set up a task force that will orchestrate attack ads, petitions and media outreach.
“It is tempting to make this process an extension of our divided politics, but to go down that path would be wrong”, he said.
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At the time, Republican Senator Orrin G. Hatch told Reuters that Garland was “a consensus nominee”, who would win Senate confirmation with bipartisan support without a problem.
