President Obama will announce his nominee to fill the vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court Wednesday at 11 a.m. in the Rose Garden, according to the White House.
“I’m confident you’ll share my conviction that this American is not only eminently qualified to be a Supreme Court Justice, but deserves a fair hearing, and an up-or-down vote,” Mr. Obama wrote in an email previewing the announcement.
Mr. Obama had narrowed the potential picks to Judge Merrick Garland of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, Judge Sri Srinivasan, also a judge on that court, and Judge Paul Watford, of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, based in California, according to The Associated Press.
“In putting forward a nominee today, I am fulfilling my constitutional duty. I’m doing my job,” Mr. Obama wrote. “I hope that our senators will do their jobs, and move quickly to consider my nominee. That is what the Constitution dictates, and that’s what the American people expect and deserve from their leaders.”
Republican leaders in the Senate have said the next president should be the one to nominate a replacement for Justice Antonin Scalia, who died last month, while Democrats have called for hearings and a vote on Mr. Obama’s selection.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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