Obama to Announce Supreme Court Pick at 11 This Morning

President Barack Obama will make history Wednesday morning by announcing his pick for the U.S. Supreme Court at 11 am at the White House Rose Garden. Judge Sri Srinivasan or Judge Merrick Garland are on the narrowed down list of potential Supreme Court nominees, according to Reuters. The team who vetted the candidates reportedly finished their work on Tuesday.  Many court observers predicted that Obama would waited until after Tuesday’s primaries to make an announcement, and before Congress left for recess on Friday. Obama is hoping Republicans will approve his pick to replace the conservative Justice Antonin Scalia. Of course, Senate Republicans have already promised to thwart any and all efforts.

Interestingly, Srinivasan and Garland both serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, which is often considered a stepping stone to the Supreme Court. Here is some more information on each of the potential picks:

Judge Sri Srinivasan

• He was born India, and moved to the United States with his family
• Srinivasan served as Deputy Solicitor General for 5 years  and argued many cases before the U.S. Supreme Court.
• In private practice, Srinivasan successfully represented former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling before the Supreme Court.
• He also represented Exxon Mobil in a case which alleged human rights abuses in Indonesia
• Sirnivasan is married and lives in Virginia

Judge Merrick Garland

• Born and bred in Illinois. He went to Niles West High School over in Skokie.
• Garland, of course, did really well in school, graduating summa cum laude from Harvard College and magna cum laude from Harvard Law School.
• After he became Principal Associated Deputy Attorney General for the Justice Department in 1994, he went on to supervise the Oklahoma City bombing prosecution.
• This won’t be Garland’s first contentious judicial nomination process. When Democrat Clinton put his name forward for the D.C. Circuit seat in 1995, the Republican-control Senate stalled his confirmation until 1997.
• He has been married to his wife, Lynn, since 1987.