WASHINGTON —The White House says President Barack Obama will nominate a successor to the late Justice Antonin Scalia “in due time,” once the Senate returns from recess.

Obama says he intends to fulfill his constitutional duty.

Sri Srinivasan, a 1985 graduate of Lawrence High School, was the among the first names mentioned to become the new Supreme Court justice, according to a social media report from the high school alumni association.

“35,000 LHS and Liberty Memorial alumni are supporting you, Sri,” they wrote.

Srinivasan was appointed as judge to the U.S. Court of Appeals in May 2013. He graduated from Stanford University in 1989 and Stanford Law School and Stanford Graduate School of Business in 1995, according to his bio from the U.S. Circuit Court.

Following graduation, he served as a law clerk to Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, as a Bristow Fellow in the Office of the U.S. Solicitor General, and as a law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. In 1998, he joined the law firm O’Melveny & Myers. From 2002 to 2007, he served as an Assistant to the Solicitor General. In 2007 he returned to O’Melveny & Myers as a partner, later becoming chair of the firm’s appellate and Supreme Court practice. From 2011 until his appointment to the U.S. Court of Appeals, Judge Srinivasan served as the Principal Deputy Solicitor General of the United States. He has taught appellate advocacy at Harvard Law School.

The death of conservative Justice Antonin Scalia means next month’s Supreme Court arguments over contraceptives, religious liberty and the health care law appear more likely to favor the Obama administration. Without Scalia’s vote, a case that conservatives might have won 5-4 could end in a 4-4 tie, leaving in place the conflicting decisions of lower courts.

-The Associated Press Contributed to this report