WASHINGTON (Diya TV) — Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s list of candidates to fill the vacant seat of Justice Antonin Scalia has emerged, the candidate herself has refused to name names when it comes to the court, saying instead that Congress should take it upon themselves to confirm President Obama’s nominee, Merrick Garland.
On the other side of the spectrum, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has released a list of 11 names that he said are possible nominees. That list, released in May, included several judges who are often found on conservative wish lists.
While Clinton has made nothing official, advocates of her campaign say her most likely choices are already apparent.
According to a conversationThe Hill had with some of the most well-connected groups in Washington, there’s a broad agreement of the nominees Clinton would consider, not only for Scalia’s vacancy, but also additional seats that could open in the next four years if liberals like Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Justice Anthony Kennedy were to retire.
Though they were speaking to The Hill on the terms of anonymity, Merrick Garland also tops the list of Clinton’s current list, they said. The most obvious choice, Garland has already cleared background checks from the FBI and the American Bar Association, which are required to be a nominee for the high court, a process which can take up to four months.
He currently serves on the almighty D.C. appeals court, and is personal friends with some of the current Supreme Court Justices as well, including Chief Justice John Roberts. While Congressional Republicans have refused to accept his nomination, saying the next president, whomever it might be, should be charged with the nomination process, they also haven’t held their tongue in singing Garland’s praises.
Other top contenders of a Clinton administration are believed to be Indian-American judge Sri Srinivasan, who currently serves on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals and Jane Kelly, a judge on the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. The Obama administration reportedly also considered both judges before making the decision to nominate Garland.
Srinivasan would be the first Indian-American and Hindu to serve on the court, but his nomination could face resistance from the left due to his past work representing corporate clients.
While working as an attorney for O’Melveny & Myers, Srinivasan reportedly defended ExxonMobil and the mining giant Rio Tinto against allegations of human rights abuses in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.
Paul Watford, an black judge from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has also been mentioned as a potential nominee in passing. Jacqueline Nguyen, a Vietnamese-American judge on the same court, has also been named.
In a blog post after Justice Antonin Scalia’s death in February, Tom Goldstein, the publisher of SCOTUSblog, called Watford the “most likely nominee.”
Watford was recently vetted for his current position, with the Senate confirming him in 2012 by a drastic 61-34 margin — a filibuster-proof majority.
