The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing next week on the nomination of Srikanth “Sri” Srinivasan, the chief deputy to the Solicitor General, to become a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
Sri Srinivasan
Nominated nearly a year ago, Republican senators have delayed scheduling the hearing to see whether Srinivasan played a role in a disputed deal between the Justice Department and the city of St. Paul, Minn., that has drawn GOP ire and is also overshadowing the nomination of Assistant Attorney General Tom Perez to become Secretary of Labor.
Last month, Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) said that if “senators still have questions or concerns about his actions, they can ask Mr. Srinivasan directly at his hearing.”
From 1995 to 1996, Srinivasan served as a law clerk for the D.C. Circuit, and then spent a year as a Bristow Fellow in the Office of the Solicitor General before clerking for Sandra Day O’Connor during the Supreme Court’s 1997-1998 term. Srinivasan was hired as an associate at O’Melveny & Myers LLP from 1998 until 2002.
In 2002, he returned to the Solicitor General’s Office as an Assistant to the Solicitor General. He left the government in 2007 and rejoined O’Melveny & Myers as a partner. Then, in August 2011, he came back to the Office of the Solicitor General as the principal deputy.
Srinivasan received his B.A. from Stanford University in 1989 and his J.D. from Stanford Law School in 1995. He also holds an M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Obama called Srinivasan a “trailblazer,” saying he “will serve the court with distinction and excellence.”
The hearing will begin at 2:30 p.m., in Room 226 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building.
Correction: This story was corrected to reflect that next week’s hearing will not include a vote on the nomination.
