Allies Say Obamas Court Pick Is Near, and Will Be Hard for Repub...

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POLITICS

Allies Say Obamas Court Pick Is Near,

and Will Be Hard for Republicans to
Ignore
By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS and MICHAEL D. SHEAR

MARCH 14, 2016

WASHINGTON President Obama is close to a decision on a Supreme Court

nominee based purely on qualifications and experience, White House officials
insisted on Monday, but the presidents allies said that political considerations
including whether a nominee had an easily defensible record or appeal to
Republicans were clearly part of Mr. Obamas calculus.
Speculation now centers on three potential nominees, all federal circuit court
judges: Sri Srinivasan, 49, who was confirmed in 2013 with a 97-to-0 vote; Merrick
B. Garland, 63, a moderate who has been a finalist in Mr. Obamas previous
Supreme Court searches; and Paul J. Watford, 48, a judge on the Ninth Circuit Court
of Appeals in California.
In an afternoon conference call on Monday, Mr. Obamas political director,
David Simas, and three former senior White House officials told activists, donors,
elected officials and legal experts they were ready with an elaborate campaign plan
after Mr. Obama names his choice. The presidents decision is expected this week
and could come as early as Tuesday.
Armed with public polling data, Mr. Simas said on the call that the Republicans
refusal to consider the presidents nominee was untenable and was opposed by
two-thirds of the public. He said the White House message would be far more

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effective once Mr. Obama had chosen a nominee with impeccable credentials,
according to people who dialed in, who insisted on anonymity to discuss the details
of a confidential call.
Mr. Obama himself appeared to concede on Monday that he was seeking a
nominee Republicans would have trouble rejecting. In an interview with CNN, he
said that he would choose a person who should be a consensus candidate to
succeed Justice Antonin Scalia, the leader of the courts conservative wing who died
last month.
Longtime Democratic operatives, including Stephanie Cutter and Julianna
Smoot, deputy managers of Mr. Obamas 2012 re-election campaign, and Paul
Tewes, the architect of his 2008 Iowa caucus win, took part in a call on Monday with
liberal groups that will drive the push for the presidents nominee.
The groups are preparing to hold events in up to a dozen states during the
two-week congressional recess that begins later this week.
If the only way to get Republicans to cry uncle and hold a fair process is to
demonstrate that they will go down in flames in November if they dont, we are more
than happy to oblige, said Brad Woodhouse, the president of Americans United for
Change, one of the organizations leading the effort.
White House officials and outside groups also discussed talking points on
Monday for use after Mr. Obama announces his choice, and are preparing
biographies for each of the candidates under consideration.
Its clear what Republicans are planning to do: They are planning to tear down
the presidents nominee without regard to who the person is, said Josh Earnest, the
White House press secretary. He said the president was not making this decision
based on any sort of political consideration.
Mr. Earnest repeatedly declined to say whether the president has settled on a
choice or when he might make an announcement. White House allies have been
arguing for weeks that the president should act quickly to put a human face on what
is now an impersonal partisan fight over the vacancy.

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Jonathan Turley, a law professor at George Washington University, said Mr.

Obama must decide whether to pick a grand-slam candidate one like Judge
Srinivasan, who is young, moderate and could have a profound effect on the court
or a sacrifice fly, like Judge Watford, an impressive judge whose positions on the
death penalty and immigration would draw criticism from conservatives but whose
nomination could exact a political price from Republicans who oppose him.
The Obama White House are the ultimate practitioners of realpolitik they
have to be making a careful calculus, but the real question is not how do they win, its
what game are they playing? Mr. Turley said.
The choice depends in large part, they said, on whether Mr. Obama believes his
nominee ultimately has a chance at being confirmed: At best, the White House is
looking at a highly contested nomination, and in those circumstances, the president
generally will look for someone who is thoroughly moderate or a blind date.
Judge Srinivasan, who would be the courts first Indian-American, has the
shortest judicial record of the three, which could limit the potential for conservative
attacks, but also makes him a bit of an ideological cipher. Judge Watford, an AfricanAmerican, could be the most liberal of the nominees, and did not get the kind of
universal support that Judge Srinivasan did during his previous confirmation battle.
Judge Garland is moderate enough that Republicans would find it difficult to
reject him, many Democrats believe, particularly if a Democrat wins the presidency
in November.
Judge Jane L. Kelly, 51, a career public defender-turned appellate judge who
attended law school with Mr. Obama and has been vetted by the White House, is
said to have fallen lower on the presidents list in recent days because of concerns
that her roster of criminal defense clients could yield lines of attack for Republican
critics.
The conservative Judicial Crisis Network said on Friday that it was running
television advertisements attacking Judge Kelly for defending a child predator later
convicted of murdering a 5-year-old girl. Republican-aligned groups were circulating
reports Monday about her representation of a pipe bomber and a financial fraudster.

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A version of this article appears in print on March 15, 2016, on page A17 of the New York edition with the
headline: Allies Say Obamas Court Pick Is Near, and Will Be Hard for Republicans to Ignore .

2016 The New York Times Company

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