TODAY – AT 9:08 A.M. ET:  President Obama will, at 11 a.m., reveal his pick for a justice to succeed  the late Antonin Scalia on the United States Supreme Court.

Any choice would have to be confirmed by the Senate.  Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has already said that he will not allow an Obama selection to be considered.  McConnell, and most Republicans, want the choice to be made by the president elected in November.  We'll see if McConnell's strategy is maintained, or abandoned.

If Hillary Clinton is elected, her choice could be just as bad as Obama's, or worse, especially if the Senate flips, and the new Senate sworn in January of next year, is Democratic.  Ditto with Donald Trump.  He will march to his own drummer, and could easily appoint a Democrat, or one of his family's lawyers. 

According to press reports, the president has narrowed his choices to two men.  From Reuters:

He is likely to announce one of two federal appeals court judges, Sri Srinivasan or Merrick Garland, as his choice, a source familiar with the selection process told Reuters.

The Indian-born Srinivasan, 49, would be the first Asian-American and first Hindu Supreme Court justice. Garland, 63, is a long-time appellate judge and former prosecutor who Obama also considered when he filled two previous Supreme Court vacancies.

Obama has been searching for a replacement for long-serving conservative Justice Antonin Scalia, who died on Feb. 13.

"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," Obama said in the statement ahead of his scheduled announcement in the White House Rose Garden.

A third judge has also been mentioned, Paul Watford, of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in California.  Both Srinivasan and Garland are considered moderate liberals, with Srinivasan the more moderate.  He was confirmed unanimously for his present position as an appeals court judge.  Given that record, it would be hard for McConnell to refuse to consider him.

However, I'd be careful about predictions.  Sometimes names are leaked by the White House to throw the press off, allowing a president to drop a surprise.  We'll see at 11 a.m.  We'll see whether Obama's pick is serious, or simply a sacrificial lamb to provoke McConnell into refusing to act, and thus inflaming some favored part of the Democratic constituency.

March 16,  2016