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Could Sri Srinivasan be the First Indian-American SCOTUS Justice?

By Tanya Roth, Esq. on June 15, 2012 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

Earlier this week, there came the news that President Barack Obama had nominated not one, but two, people to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.

We already talked about the nomination of Caitlin Halligan and the controversy surrounding her nomination to the bench. As you may recall, she had already been nominated once and her nomination had been filibustered by the Senate Republicans.

Now, let's talk about the other nominee, Sri Srinivasan.

Srikanth "Sri" Srinivasan was nominated by President Barack Obama earlier this week, reports Reuters. There have been many eyes on him over the years as he has been an star on the legal scene.

He is currently the Principal Deputy Solicitor General. He was born in India and grew up in Kansas.

If confirmed to the bench, he would be the first person of Indian descent to sit on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, reports India West.

And a seat on that bench could inevitably pave the way for Srinivasan to sit on the U.S. Supreme Court one day.

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals is an unofficial feeder court into the U.S. Supreme Court. It's well known among judicial circles that a position on the D.C. Circuit would open the door to a Supreme Court appointment if one of the seats on the bench were to open.

Former D.C. Circuit judges that made it to SCOTUS include Chief Justice John Roberts, Justices Clarence Thomas, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Antonin Scalia.

But this being an election year, it's unlikely that there will be much traction on Srinivasan's nomination. Judicial business will wind down slowly over the summer and soon, it will be all about the federal elections.

So even if Srinivasan has a hearing this year, the Senate won't likely be taking any action until next year.

Will the U.S. see it's first Indian-American Supreme Court Justice? We won't know the odds of that until 2013, at the earliest.

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