Barack Obama to visit Chicago Law school to push for SC pick

Washington, Apr 7: US President Barack Obama will visit the prestigious Chicago Law School, where he once taught, today to meet the students and faculty to discuss and push his case for the Senate to take up the selection of Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland, the White House officials have said.

Obama will return to the varsity where he served as a professor and senior lecturer on constitutional law prior to being elected to the US Senate in 2004.

He will discuss the importance of the Supreme Court, its integrity and the country's judicial system, the official said yesterday.

During his visit, Obama will continue making the case for why Chief Judge Merrick Garland -- and the American people -- deserve for the Senate to fulfil its constitutional responsibility and give this eminently qualified nominee a fair hearing and an up-or-down vote, an Official said.

Obama will be joined on stage by his former colleague Professor David Strauss, the school's Gerald Ratner Distinguished Service Professor of Law, and he will engage directly with the audience which will be comprised of students and faculty as well as judges from the 7th Circuit Court and other local ones, the official said.

Both Obama and Garland have Chicago roots and often call it their hometown. "The President looks forward to visiting the institution that helped shape his dedication to the rule of law, the role of the Presidency and his fidelity to the constitution – to discuss with law students and faculty how he fulfilled his constitutional responsibility and presented the American people with an exceptional nominee for our Nation's highest court," said the White House official.

Barack Obama had nominated Garland as the Supreme Court judge over Indian- American Sri Srinivasan, amid a possible showdown with Senate Republicans who have warned the US President against taking a decision in an election year.

Nomination of the 63-year-old, the chief judge for the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, fills the Supreme Court seat left vacant by the sudden death of conservative icon justice Antonin Scalia in February.

However, it would be tough for Obama to get through his choice of the judge and sets the stage for an intense showdown by Senate Republicans who have maintained that Obama should not choose Scalia's successor, with less than a year left for his presidency.

PTI