Obama's Supreme Court pick expected mid-next week

President Obama is expected to name his replacement for the-late Justice Antonin Scalia as early as next week, just before the Senate leaves for its spring recess.

A source close to the process told the Washington Examiner that insiders expect a nominee Wednesday or Thursday. The short list of nominees has been winnowed to Chief Judge Merrick Garland of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia; Judge Sri Srinivasan of the same court; U.S. District Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson who serves in Washington, D.C.; Judge Jane Kelly of the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis; and Judge Paul Watford of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.

"I'm not in a position to confirm that anybody is actually under consideration by the White House … but certainly the three individuals you named are people that the president was proud to have appointed to the federal bench," White House spokesman Josh Earnest told a reporter who asked about Garland, Kelly, Srinivasan. Obama elevated all but Garland to the federal bench.

"I can tell you that the process is ongoing … but I don't have any updates for you in terms of whether or not he has talked to any of the potential nominees," Earnest added.

A search of the White House visitors' log, which only shows guests through Feb. 26, does not reveal any presidential meetings with any of the candidates. However, any face-to-face meeting with Obama is unlikely to have happened that early, and the log doesn't list whom he speaks with on the phone.