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Will the GOP block Obama’s judicial pick yet again?

White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Josh Earnest previews next week's confirmation hearing for President Obama's top judicial pick, Sri Srinivasan.
/ Source: Now With Alex

White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Josh Earnest previews next week's confirmation hearing for President Obama's top judicial pick, Sri Srinivasan.

White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Josh Earnest joined NOW with Alex Wagner Thursday to talk judicial nominees, specifically next Wednesday’s confirmation hearing for U.S. Deputy Solicitor General Sri Srinivasan, President Obama’s top pick to sit on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

The president’s last nominee, Caitlin Halligan, withdrew her nomination last month after being subjected to a filibuster by Senate Republicans.

The looming showdown comes as Republicans have embarked on record levels of obstruction during Obama’s presidency.

“We’ll have to see,” Earnest said when asked if recent support for Srinivasan from conservative super lawyers like Ted Olson, Kenneth Starr and Paul Clement would ensure an easy confirmation. “That’s going to be up to Senate Republicans, and whether or not they want to apply the political strategy that they’ve used so much over the president’s first four years in office.”

Earnest called Republican opposition to judicial nominees a “calculated effort to repeatedly obstruct the president’s effort to nominate qualified people to the federal judiciary.”