Obama, in California for a long-planned summit with Southeast Asian leaders, will return to Washington on Tuesday after a press conference at which he is sure to face questions about his strategy for filling the Supreme Court vacancy.
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“To me, it makes sense to nominate one of the stellar judges he's already chosen who has been approved by this same Senate that now refuses to act," Axelrod said.

One possible contender is Sri Srinivasan, who Republican senators supported in 2013 when he was confirmed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
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Obama will look for a nominee with "impeccable credentials" who believes in adherence to precedent and bringing one's own ethics and moral bearings to decisions on the court in which the law is not clear, he said.

"The president seeks judges who understand that justice is not about some abstract legal theory, or a footnote in a casebook, but it is also about how our laws affect the daily realities of peoples’ lives," Schultz said.