Three potential SCOTUS nominees are said to remain on Obama's shortlist
President Obama has reportedly cut his shortlist of potential Supreme Court nominees to three federal appeals judges.
Reuters was first with the news, followed by the Washington Post. According to those publications, which relied on anonymous sources, the three remaining potential nominees are:
1) Judge Sri Srinivasan of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. A Stanford law graduate who was born in India, Srinivasan would be the first Asian American and Hindu on the Supreme Court if nominated and confirmed. He clerked for Justice Sandra Day O’Connor and worked in Republican and Democratic administrations in the U.S. Solicitor General’s office. Since his unanimous confirmation to the D.C. Circuit in 2013, Srinivasan wrote an opinion upholding restrictions on protests outside the U.S. Supreme Court and sided with the Obama administration to uphold its labor protections for home care workers.
2) Judge Merrick Garland of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. A Harvard law graduate, Garland is considered a moderate. While working at the U.S. Justice Department, Garland supervised the prosecution of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh and Unabomber Ted Kaczynski. He was appointed to the D.C. Circuit in 1997 and is now chief judge.
3) Judge Paul Watford of the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. A University of California at Los Angeles law graduate, Watford was appointed to the appeals court in 2012. He previously worked as a federal prosecutor and an appellate litigator at Munger, Tolles & Olson. He clerked for 9th Circuit Judge Alex Kozinski and for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. If nominated and confirmed, he would be the third black justice to serve on the Supreme Court.
