President Obama To Name Supreme Court Nominee

PHILADELPHIA (CNN) -- President Barack Obama has chosen a nominee to replace the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, and will announce his pick at 11 a.m. ET, he told supporters in an email Wednesday.

"Today, I will announce the person whom I believe is eminently qualified to sit on the Supreme Court," Obama wrote in the email, which did not name his nominee.

He said the announcement would come in the White House Rose Garden.

"As President, it is both my constitutional duty to nominate a justice and one of the most important decisions that I -- or any president -- will make."

"I've devoted a considerable amount of time and deliberation to this decision," Obama said. "I've consulted with legal experts and people across the political spectrum, both inside and outside government. And we've reached out to every member of the Senate, who each have a responsibility to do their job and take this nomination just as seriously."

Sources told CNN late Tuesday that the formal process of scrubbing candidates' records and backgrounds was complete.

"The groundwork has been methodical and is done," one of the sources said.

People familiar with the process said the list of names had been winnowed to a select few federal appellate judges, all of whom have been interviewed by the President. Sri Srinivasan and Merrick Garland of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit are considered to be atop the list.

Paul Watford, who serves on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in California, is also considered to be in the running. He was seen in California on Tuesday.

Obama's announcement Wednesday was set to amplify an ongoing political battle over the precedent and propriety of considering a Supreme Court nomination amid a heated presidential election. Both Democrats and Republicans have already mobilized vast lobbying efforts to back their sides, and the topic was bound to infect the ongoing presidential race.

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