Expert predicts Loretta Lynch will be Obama's pick to replace Scalia

U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch might be the president's choice to replace Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court.

She's the president's top pick according to Tom Goldstein of the highly respected SCOTUSblog, which covers all things relating to the Supreme Court. Goldstein predicts Obama wants a black nominee for the court and writes, "The fact that Lynch was vetted so recently for attorney general also makes it practical for the president to nominate her in relatively short order."

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If she is the president's choice to replace Scalia, Lynch would likely be a hotly-contested pick in the Republican-controlled U.S. Senate. When she was confirmed to serve in her current role in the Obama administration, she faced criticism for her support of the president's move to block the deportations of roughly five million illegal immigrants.

The Senate took months to confirm her, in part because of a battle over abortion language in another piece of legislation that Democrats refused to relent on.

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As a high-ranking member of the Obama administration, she's been subject to additional conservative criticism, including her comments backing the president on recent gun control executive actions.

A handful of other names have been swirling about in the wake of Scalia's untimely passing, including Sri Srinivasan and Sen. Amy Klobuchar.

See some of the other rumored candidates below:

Judge Jacqueline Nguyen is another name to watch. Born in Vietnam, she made history as the first Asian-American woman to sit on a federal appeals court.

California Attorney General Kamala Harris has also had her name floated — despite the fact that she's currently running to succeed outgoing Sen. Barbara Boxer.

Senate Republicans have already said they don't want President Obama to even have a say in choosing the next Supreme Court justice, insisting instead they'd rather that wait until a new president takes office next year.

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