In the run-up to the US Supreme Court race, Indian-American legal luminary, Amul Thapar, is among the 25 shortlisted judges who could replace the outgoing Justice Anthony Kennedy. US President Donald Trump will nominate one of the 25 judges. Justice Kennedy, 81, announced his retirement from the apex court on June 27.

Justice Kennedy had interacted with Trump at White House and told him that his last day of work at the Supreme Court would be on July 31, Press Trust of India reported.

Trump had stated that his nomination will be based from a list compiled by the Heritage Foundation and the Federalist Society.

Thapar, 49, is a circuit judge on the 6th US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. At the time of his appointment, he was only the second Indian-American judge in the US Court of Appeals after Judge Sri Srinivasan.

"Thapar is a favourite of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, and as a candidate, Trump said he would consider Thapar as a Supreme Court pick," The Washington Post reported.

American media outlet Courier-Journal also reported that "Kennedy's resignation reopens the door for Thapar's consideration."

US Supreme Court
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Amul Thapar: All you need to know about

  • Amul Thapar was born on April 29, 1969, at Troy in Michigan, US.
  • He completed his Bachelor of Science degree from Boston College in 1991 and later completed his Juris Doctor from the University of California, Berkeley.
  • Thapar is United States' first Article III judge of South Asian descent.
  • He currently sits on the 6th US Circuit Court of Appeals after he was appointed by Trump in 2017.
  • He was a former US attorney for the District of Kentucky.
  • Thapar began his career in private practice while he worked with Judge S Arthur Spiegel of the District Court for the southern district of Ohio
  • He even did his clerkship with Judge Nathaniel R Jones of the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. 
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