The White House is reportedly vetting its next possible SCOTUS nominee

Despite GOP resistance, Obama moves on SCOTUS.

(Image credit: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images)

published 2 March 2016

The White House is reportedly in the process of vetting federal appellate Judge Jane Kelly as a potential nominee for the Supreme Court vacancy created by the recent death of Justice Antonin Scalia, a source told The New York Times. The Times reports the FBI has been conducting background interviews on Kelly, 51, who was a career public defender before becoming an appeals court judge three years ago.

Kelly won "quick and unanimous" confirmation from the Senate and, notably, was praised heartily in a 2013 Senate floor speech by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), who is now leading the Republican campaign against President Obama picking a nominee. Grassley urged his Senate colleagues to confirm Kelly as a federal appellate judge, quoting from a letter that described her as a “forthright woman of high integrity and honest character” and an individual of “exceptionally keen intellect," The New York Times reports.