Indian-origin Srinivasan confirmed as top US court judge

Indian-American Srikanth Srinivasan Thursday scripted history after he was confirmed as the first South Asian judge to America's second highest court.

Described as "trailblazer" by US President Barack Obama, Chandigarh-born Srinivasan's nomination to the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit was unanimously approved by the Senate with 97 voting in favour.

With Senate confirmation, 46-year-old Srinivasan has become the first Indian-American to be appointed to the top American court.

He was first nominated by Obama on June 11, 2012. On January 2, 2013, his nomination was returned to the president, due to the sine die adjournment of the Senate. On January 3, 2013, Obama re-nominated him for the same office.

Srinivasan was born in Chandigarh, and grew up in Lawrence, Kansas.

He received his BA with honours and distinction in 1989 from StanfordUniversity and his JD (Juris Doctor) with distinction in 1995 from StanfordLawSchool, where he was elected to Order of the Coif and served as an editor of the Stanford Law Review.

He also holds an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, which he received along with his JD in 1995.

Srinivasan began his legal career by serving as a law clerk for Judge J Harvie Wilkinson on the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit from 1995 to 1996.

For his work, he received the Attorney General's Award for Excellence in Furthering US National Security in 2003 and the Office of the Secretary of Defence Award for Excellence in 2005.

Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images