Jamaican American Kamala Harris Named as Potential Nominee to Replace Scalia on U.S. Supreme Court

Jamaican-American state attorney general of California Kamala Harris is being pegged as a favorite by political pundits for President Obama’s pending nomination to the U.S. Supreme court.

Harris, 51, is the daughter of Jamaica-American Stanford University Economics Professor Donald Harris, and Indian-born cancer researcher Dr. Shyamala Gopalan Harris. Former Obama White House advisor David Axelrod mentioned the possibility of a Harris nomination on a weekend news show, and Harris’ name has popped up on hypothetical lists from the New York Times, Associated Press, USA Today, and the National Law Journal. A graduate of Howard University and the University of California, Hasting College of Law, Harris is the first female, the first African-American, and the first Asian-American attorney general in California

Whether Harris would accept such an appointment however, is in question, as Harris is currently the frontrunner in the race for the U.S. Senate seat.

Meanwhile, Jamaican-born Tanya Chutkan has been nominated by President Obama for the U.S. District Court Judge for Washington D.C. Chutkan is currently a partner at the law firm Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP, where her practice focuses on complex civil litigation, especially antitrust class actions, but also on white collar criminal defense and corporate investigations.  If confirmed by the Senate, Chutkan would be the second Black woman appointed to the district court here in 32 years, only the third to ever serve, and the second currently on the bench, joining Ketanji Brown Jackson, another Norton recommendation.