Former Lawrence resident, LHS graduate potential nominee for Supreme Court seat

Sri Srinivasan

A United States circuit judge with many ties to Lawrence and Kansas University is a prime choice to be on President Barack Obama’s shortlist of candidates to fill the vacant U.S. Supreme Court seat in the wake of Justice Antonin Scalia’s death, according to multiple media outlets.

Sri Srinivasan, 48, is currently seated on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. He was confirmed in that role with a 97-0 vote in the U.S. Senate on May 23, 2013, becoming Obama’s first successful nomination to the appeals court, according to an Associated Press story from 2013.

But many years before that, Srinivasan was a student at Lawrence High School, where he played point guard for the school’s basketball team alongside Danny Manning. He graduated from LHS in 1985 and was inducted into its Hall of Honor on Sept. 29, 2013.

Sri Srinivasan

He went on from LHS to earn a bachelor’s degree and law degree from Stanford University. He also has a master’s degree in business administration from Stanford.

Following Scalia’s death on Saturday, Srinivasan’s name came to the forefront of potential nominees in several publications, including the New York Daily News, the Hindu and the New Yorker, to name a few.

The D.C. circuit is considered the second-most influential court in the country, behind the Supreme Court, and often serves as a feeder for the top court, according to the 2013 AP story. Four Supreme Court justices, including Chief Justice John Roberts, served on the D.C. circuit.

In April 2013, Jeffrey Toobin of the New Yorker wrote that if Srinivasan won confirmation for the appeals court seat, “he’ll be on the Supreme Court before President Obama’s term ends.”

Obama nominated Srinivasan for the post in 2012 along with Caitlin Halligan, whom the Senate blocked multiple times.

“This important court is often called the nation’s second-highest court, and it stands more than a quarter vacant,” Obama said in the 2012 announcement of the nominees. “(…) Mr. Srinivasan will be a trailblazer and, like Ms. Halligan, will serve the court with distinction and excellence.”

Srinivasan “sailed through” an April 2013 Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, according to the 2013 AP story.

Current Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz, of Texas, finished his questioning of Srinivasan during the hearing by telling him, “I thank you for a very fine job here today.” Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, also told Srinivasan that he would make a “great” judge on the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, and that he thought he was “terrific,” according to the 2013 AP story.

Srinivasan served as a Supreme Court law clerk for now-retired Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. He was named to his post in the solicitor general’s office in 2011 and has also served as an intern for retired U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Deanell Reece Tacha, also a Lawrence resident.

Srinivasan’s father, T.P. Srinivasan, was a math professor and a leader in Kansas University’s governance groups. His sister, Srinija Srinivasan, is a former executive at Yahoo, where she was the fifth-ever person to be hired by the company in the 1990s.