Assuring a Democratic Victory in 2016: Why Obama Should Nominate an Indian American for the U.S. Supreme Court

Judge Antonin Scalia died Saturday afternoon and within minutes of the news hitting the web, talk began of possible nominees to fill the vacant seat. Among those on the short list was Sri Srinivasan, United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

Srinivasan's name immediately garnered excitement in the Indian-American community. Facebook was alighted with chatter about him and multiple shares of the 2013 Jeffrey Toobin piece in The New Yorker, "The Supreme Court Nominee in Waiting." As Executive Director of the South Asian Network, a Southern California community-based organization serving the needs of individuals of Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan and Nepali descent, I immediately began to contemplate what such a nomination would mean for the future of our community and our country.

South Asian Americans have been among the strongest voting blocs for President Obama. According to National Asian American Survey run by UC Riverside Professor Karthick Ramakrishnan, in 2008, 92% of Indian Americans voted for President Obama while only 8% voted for Senator John McCain. Similarly, in 2012, 86% voted to re-elect the president and only 14% voted for Governor Mitt Romney. It's unclear how Indian Americans will vote in the 2016 election, but with Republicans like Donald Trump calling for a ban on the entry of all Muslims into the U.S. and Jeb Bush referring to some Asian American infants as "anchor babies," it's unlikely that the GOP nominee will garner much more support than their recent predecessors.

But for voters favoring Bernie Sanders or Hillary Clinton, there is a question of whether Srinivasan will mete out justice in a way that serves the interests of the South Asian community, which according to the 2012 National Asian American survey, lean heavily in favor of environmental protections, affirmative action and immigration reform, including a path to citizenship for the undocumented. A Stanford Law graduate, Srinivasan clerked for two Reagan appointees, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and Judge Harvie Wilkinson, of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. Later, Srinivasan did serve as Principal Deputy Solicitor General, replacing another Indian American, Neal Katyal, in the Obama Administration. While at O'Melveny and Myers, Srinivasan defended Jeffrey Skilling, former Chief Executive at Enron in front of the Supreme Court. More importantly, he represented Exxon Mobil, arguing that it should not be held liable for human rights violations that took place abroad. In that particular case, an Indonesian village claimed that security staff of Exxon Mobil had engaged in the torture and murder of its residents. On the other hand, Srinivasan has filed pro bono briefs in support of affirmative action and against Indiana's restrictive voter ID law. Similarly, his representation prevented a legal immigrant from getting deported for a minor gun offense and he sided against the government in the U.S. v. Jones case on the question of unconstitutional surveillance.

While it's unlikely that Srinivasan will be a Brennan or Marshall-style liberal given his defense of corporate interests, albeit as an attorney representing his clients, it's very possible that Srinivasan may play the role of his former boss O'Conner as the fifth swing vote, which means that he will change the balance of the court in very significant ways.

What is clear is that in addition to becoming the first Indian-American, Srinivasan would become the first Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) on the nation's highest court. Even in 2016, there are only four Asian American judges at the federal appeals court level -- Denny Chin of the Second Circuit, Raymond Chen of the Federal Court of Appeals, Jacqueline Nguyen (also on the short list for the vacant seat) of the Ninth Circuit and Srinivasan on the DC Circuit -- and no AAPI has ever been nominated, or perhaps even considered, for the Supreme Court. And the Srinivasan nomination -- likely to be viewed as historic by the wider Asian American and Pacific Islander community -- will almost certainly encourage AAPI voters to come out in force this November and choose a Democrat, especially if Republicans are viewed as opposing him or treating him unfairly because of his race. And this is significant because while AAPIs will likely represent only 4-5% of the overall electorate in 2016, they make up 11% in Nevada and a steadily increasing percentage in Virginia, two important swing states.

As an Indian-American woman lawyer, albeit one whose views on jurisprudence lie more squarely with Ruth Bader Ginsberg than with Sandra Day O'Connor, I would welcome a nominee from our community with the brilliant legal skills and unparalleled credentials of Srinivasan. I am not the first to say that his nomination would bring the court in line with America's diverse population, almost six percent of which is Asian American and Pacific Islander. Moreover, it would signal that President Obama is truly committed to diversity--the representation of all ethnic and religious groups on the highest court in the land, which currently only includes Caucasian, African-American, Latino, Jewish, Catholic and Christian. With Srinivasan's elevation to the Court, we could add to that Asian Indian and Hindu.