Yesterday, the Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously approved Sri Srinivasan, President Obama's appointee to the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.  If confirmed by the full Senate, Srinivasan would be the first South Asian American to sit on a US Court of Appeals.

The Judiciary Committee also approved the nomination of Ray Chen to the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.  Currently there are 19 Asian American Article III judges.  Two are on the US Court of Appeals – Denny Chin (2d Cir.) and Jacqueline Nguyen (9th Cir.). 

 

Srinivasan and Chen will be put on the Senate Executive Calendar and will be eligible for Senate floor vote for confirmation. Currently, there is only one circuit court nominee in the queue waiting for confirmation.  Srinvasan will be the second on the list, followed by Chen.

May is APA Heritage Month and the Asian American community is asking Senators Reid and McConnell to bring Srinivasan’s nomination to the floor before Memorial Day.  The community has been very successful in getting our Circuit Court nominees confirmed in May.  Last year Ninth Circuit Judge Jacqueline Nguyen was confirmed in May 2012 and we celebrated the confirmation of the first Asian American woman to the US Court of Appeals.