The White House acknowledged that President Joe Biden is considering a federal judge in South Carolina as a potential nominee to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer and that he may cast a wider net than the three or four names that have circulated.
Since 2010, Judge J. Michelle Childs has been a member of the United States District Court for the Southern District of South Carolina. Childs is supported by House Majority Whip James Clyburn, D-South Carolina, a Biden supporter.
Judge Michelle Childs is Biden's Supreme Court pick
Biden nominated Childs to the US Senate. Appeal from the District of Columbia's in this month's presidential election, Circuit is the first contender the White House has formally confirmed. The Washington Post first disclosed her interest in the Supreme Court only days before her confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Next month, Biden promised to appoint the nation's first Black woman to the Supreme Court. Despite the fact that a president has a lot of power to pick from, Supreme Court candidates are typically pulled from federal appeals courts. According to a source familiar with the process who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the delicate nature of the nomination process, Biden is evaluating more than a dozen candidates for the position.
Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson of the DC Circuit and Associate Justice Leondra Kruger of the California Supreme Court has been floating about for months. According to the source, the White House is also considering the resignations of North Carolina Supreme Court Justice Anita Earls and Sherrilyn Ifill, who is the head of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, as per USA Today.
Biden considers Clyburn's choice for SCOTUS
According to the President Biden Administration, a US District Court judge from South Carolina, endorsed by US Rep. James Clyburn, is being considered to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer. It was part of a bargain Biden made with Clyburn, who had previously chaired the Congressional Black Caucus and promised his support for Biden in 2020 on the condition that he publicly pledged to appoint a black woman to the Supreme Court if he was elected.
Childs had been chastised for her decision to reject a measure in South Carolina's new elections bill that would have tightened security on mail-in votes, which was thought to shift the balance in favor of Democrats, in September 2020. In a state of emergency caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the South Carolina legislature enacted a measure enabling all voters to vote absentee regardless of their reason. However, an amendment to eliminate a need for a witness signature failed before the 2020 election.
In a major victory for state and national Democrats who voted by mail at a greater rate than Republicans, Childs maintained the legislation but threw down the signature requirement. In early October, the Supreme Court immediately overruled it. During her confirmation hearing in the US District Court of South Carolina in 2010, Childs also showed strong respect to Congress, indicating that she may give federal politicians the benefit of the doubt on occasion, Mail Online reported.
Sen. Graham backs Biden's Supreme Court pick
Sen. Lindsey Graham has nothing but respect for Judge J. Michelle Childs of the South Carolina District Court and supports her candidacy to the Supreme Court if President Biden chooses her.
As a graduate of the University of South Carolina, where she got her JD, Graham highlighted Childs' public school background. He said that Childs' nomination would make the Supreme Court "more like the country" and dismissed suggestions that it would be part of an affirmative action program.
The most important factor in Biden's nomination, he underscored, must be his qualifications, according to Fox News.
Related Article : Biden Commits To Nominating First Black Female Supreme Court Justice by End of February After Honoring Breyer
