President Barack Obama is down to three finalists for the open seat on the Supreme Court and is expected to make a decision as soon as next week, according to a report by the Washington Post.
The Post says that the three—all male—are Merrick Garland, chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit; Sri Srinivasan, a judge on the same court; and Paul Watford, a judge on the California-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.
Srinivasan, 49, was born in India and immigrated with his family to Kansas. A Stanford Law graduate, he would be the high court’s first Asian American. He was nominated in May 2013 to be a judge on the Washington, D.C.-based appeals court. The Senate confirmed him 97-0.
Garland, 63, was reportedly considered by Obama for a previous Supreme Court vacancy. Garland grew up in Chicago and graduated from Harvard Law School. He was appointed to the federal circuit court in April 1997 and became chief judge in February 2013.
Watford, 48, grew up in Orange County, Calif., and graduated from the UCLA School of Law. The president named him to the federal appeals court in 2011, and the Senate confirmed him with a vote of 61-34 in May 2012. He is African American and the youngest of the group.
Attorney General Loretta Lynch took herself out of consideration for the Supreme Court last week.
Senate Republicans—including Republican presidential candidates Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio—have vowed to stop Obama from nominating anyone to fill the Supreme Court vacancy left by the death of Antonin Scalia, arguing that the process should wait until the next president is elected. The president has vowed to put forth a name for consideration.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Read more at the Washington Post.