Sri Srinivasan (District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals): Age: 48. A strong candidate. The son of immigrants from India, he clerked for conservative appeals court judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III—himself a former shortlister for a Supreme Court seat—and Sandra Day O’Connor. He served as chief deputy to the U.S. solicitor general. He also won confirmation to the D.C. Circuit in 2013 by a staggering vote of 97–0. Srinivasan is a respected judge and a D.C. insider. Blocking him after that confirmation vote might look awful.
Patricia Ann Millett (D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals): Age: 52.* Millett is a legend in Supreme Court advocacy, having argued 32 cases at the high court. She is a consummate SCOTUS insider, in the vein of John Roberts. She is also married to a military reservist and has been a strong supporter of military families. Millett is nobody’s bomb thrower.
Paul Watford (9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals): Age: 48. Watford is a black American who clerked for conservative icon Alex Kozinski as well as for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. He has served as a federal prosecutor and was confirmed in 2012 by a vote of 61–34.
Merrick Garland (D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals): Age: 63. Garland, the chief judge of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, was a Bill Clinton nominee and has long been seen as a judicial moderate who might be confirmable in a contentious political climate. His age may prove disqualifying, but he is a centrist and well-liked.
Goodwin Liu (California Supreme Court): Age: 45. The son of Taiwanese immigrants, Liu was an Obama pick for a seat on the 9th Circuit in 2010 but was blocked by Republicans. He has distinguished himself as a left-leaning moderate on California’s high court. Given his prior confirmation battles, this would be an especially heavy lift.
David Barron (1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals): Age: 48. Barron served as acting assistant attorney general in the Obama administration. He controversially authored secret memos on the legality of killing American citizens with drone strikes. His confirmation to the 1st Circuit was controversial, and he would face a steeper climb to the high court if nominated by Obama.
Loretta Lynch (attorney general of the United States): Age: 56. Lynch is the first black woman to hold the AG’s office. She has also served as United States attorney for the Eastern District of New York. During the five long months of her confirmation battle, even Rudy Giuliani called her “overqualified” for the job. Lynch has an undergraduate and a law degree from Harvard University. Given how polarizing she has been as AG, this may be a tough fight for the President.
Jane Kelly (8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals): Age: 51. Kelly was a career public defender who had the support of Iowa Republican Chuck Grassley, head of the Senate Judiciary Committee. (Grassley has already called for delaying any nomination.) Kelly was confirmed 96–0 for her seat on the 8th Circuit. Again, it's hard to imagine why anyone would object to her now.
Kamala Harris (attorney general of California): Age: 51. She is the first female and the first black AG of her state. She also has run for elected office. We have not seen a justice with such political experience since Sandra Day O’Connor. Harris has the advantage of being a politician. She also has the disadvantage of being a politician.
Jacqueline Nguyen (9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals): Age: 51. She was born in Vietnam and moved to the United States when she was 10. She has served as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Central District of California and in the U.S. attorney's office. She was confirmed to the district court in 2009 with a 97–0 vote.
Robert L. Wilkins (D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals): Age: 53. Wilkins, a black American who was raised by a single mom, has a law degree from Harvard Law School and served as special litigation chief for the D.C. Public Defender Service. Wilkins gained attention for civil rights battles he has waged, including a precedent-setting fight against police racial profiling in Maryland, and for his work on the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
I like the prospects of Robert Wilkins. He could vital to the court on racial issues facing this country.
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