Judge J. Michelle Childs, a Detroit, Mich., native born in 1966, could become the first Black woman on the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Washington Post reported late Friday that the White House confirmed Childs is under consideration as the replacement for Justice Stephen G. Breyer. She was appointed by President Barack Obama to serve as a United States District Court Judge for the District of South Carolina in 2010.
Breyer announced this week that he plans to retire at the end of the 2021-2022 court term after serving on the court for nearly 30 years.
The liberal-leaning justice is 83 years old.
Before the announcement, some liberal activist groups called for Breyer to retire so President Joe Biden could appoint another liberal judge to the court. When liberal-leaning Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away in September 2020, then President Donald Trump appointed conservative-leaning Justice Amy Coney Barrett. As it stands, the court has a 6-3 conservative lean.
Biden has said that he plans to nominate a Black woman to the Supreme Court.
“It's long overdue, in my opinion,” he said.
As of October 2021, there have been 115 Supreme Court justices. Thurgood Marshall was the first Black person appointed to the Supreme Court in 1967. He served until 1991 and was replaced by Clarence Thomas, the second Black judge appointed to the court.
Sandra Day O’Connor became the first female Supreme Court justice in 1981. Overall, five women have been appointed to the court.
Childs is a 1992 graduate of the University of South Carolina School of Law, a 1988 graduate of the University of South Florida and a 1991 University of South Carolina School of Business.
“I became the first black female partner in a major law firm in the state of South Carolina,” she said in an interview with the South Carolina School of Law.
She was in private practice from 1992 to 2000 and then served as deputy director for the Division of Labor, South Carolina Department of Labor, Licensing, and Regulation, until 2002. Childs then became a commissioner for the South Carolina Workers' Compensation Commission though 2006 and was a Judge, for the South Carolina Circuit Court, Fifth Judicial Circuit from 2006 to 2010.
According to The Washington Post, she is a favorite of House Majority Whip James E. Clyburn (D-S.C.) as a potential candidate for the Supreme Court. Childs is one of several people under consideration by the president to replace Breyer, said the outlet.
In December, Childs was nominated to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, which is considered the second-most influential court in the country and steppingstone to the Supreme Court. However, her confirmation hearing for the D.C. Circuit – which was scheduled in the Senate Judiciary Committee for Tuesday – was quietly postponed, according to The Post.
White House spokesman Andrew Bates told the outlet that Childs is “among multiple individuals under consideration for the Supreme Court.” He also said that Child’s nomination for the Court of Appeals will not move forward while Biden is considering her for the Supreme Court vacancy.
Additionally, Bates clarified that “reporting indicating that the President is only seriously considering three potential nominees is incorrect.”
Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson of the D.C. Circuit and Leondra Kruger, a California Supreme Court justice, are other judges rumored to be under consideration, said The Post, as well as Anita Earls, a North Carolina Supreme Court justice, New York University law professor Melissa Murray and Minnesota federal District Judge Wilhelmina “Mimi” Wright.
Biden is expected to announce his pick by the end of next month.
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