Srinivasan, 46, currently principal deputy solicitor general of the US, would be the first judge of South Asian descent on the powerful appeals court for the American capital, often called the nation's second-highest court.

He was expected to win confirmation as President Barack Obama's nominee to sit on the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, by a wide margin as the Senate Judiciary Committee approved Srinivasan by a vote of 18 to 0.