Obama reportedly to tap Srinivasan for Supreme Court

16 March 2016, 3:49 pm

Edit

US President Barack Obama is likely to nominate judge Sri Srinivasan to replace Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court bench, Reuters reports.

This photo provided by the US Court of Appeals District of Columbia Circuit shows Judge Sri Srinivasan in Washington. (US Court of Appeals District of Columbia Circuit/AP) — Judge Sri Srinivasan in Washington. (US Court of Appeals District of Columbia Circuit/AP)

Srinivasan, who would become the court’s first Hindu and first Asian-American, would beat out Jewish judge Merrick Garland, who had also been bruited as a front-runner under consideration.

Obama is expected to announce his decision at 5 p.m. Israel time.

In an email earlier in the day he said his nominee is “eminently qualified” to sit on the nation’s highest court. He said the nominee understands the limits of the judiciary’s role and “grasps the way it affects the daily reality of people’s lives in a big, complicated democracy, and in rapidly changing times.”

— with AP