by Julia Edwards
The White House is interviewing five potential nominees for the U.S.
Supreme Court vacancy created by the death last month of Justice Antonin
Scalia, a source familiar with the process told Reuters on Wednesday.
The source said those under consideration were federal
judges Sri Srinivasan, Jane Kelly, Ketanji Brown Jackson, Paul Watford and
Merrick Garland.
The five have been reported to be on the short list of potential
nominees, but the source said they were the only ones currently under
consideration.
Outside groups have said that President Barack Obama is likely to
consider someone who is a woman or a member of a racial minority and was
previously confirmed to a judgeship by a strong majority in the U.S. Senate.
The process of filling the spot that was held by
Scalia, one of the court's most conservative justices, has ignited a partisan
battle in Washington.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said
he would not hold hearings on anyone nominated to the Supreme Court by Obama, a
Democrat. Republicans who control the Senate do not want to see the court shift
ideologically to the left and say the next justice should be picked by the
winner of the Nov. 8 election.
Senate Democrats are demanding a vote on
Obama's nomination.
Kelly, who worked as a lawyer in Iowa, is
considered a strong candidate because she has been supported by Republican
Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary
Committee, which holds hearings on potential nominees.
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