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The White House has confirmed that U.S. District Court Judge J. Michelle Childs is under consideration for nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court following the announcement that Associate Justice Stephen Breyer will retire.
President Joe Biden nominated Childs to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in December and a hearing on that nomination was scheduled to take place Tuesday but was removed from the Senate Judiciary Committee's docket.
That led to speculation that the Biden administration was considering Childs as a potential successor to Breyer, and a White House spokesperson later confirmed she was being considered.
"Judge Childs is among multiple individuals under consideration for the Supreme Court, and we are not going to move her nomination on the Court of Appeals while the president is considering her for this vacancy," White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said on Friday.
"At the same time, reporting indicating that the president is only seriously considering three potential nominees is incorrect," he added.
There has been significant speculation about who Biden will nominate to the nation's highest court after the president said he would fulfil a commitment to nominate a Black woman.
Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and Justice Leondra Kruger of the Supreme Court of California are considered serious contenders for the nomination.
Childs currently sits on the U.S. District Court of South Carolina and was already nominated to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. That nomination is on hold while the Biden administration chooses whether or not to name her to the Supreme Court.
The 55-year-old judge may have support from Representative Jim Clyburn, the third-ranking Democrat in the House of Representatives who has served as House Majority Whip since 2019.
Clyburn has reportedly recommended Childs to Vice President Kamala Harris and has supported the idea of her filling any Supreme Court vacancy that might arise.
The congressman, who represents South Carolina's 6th district, played a key role in securing Biden's victory in the Democratic presidential primary race and the White House is likely to value his endorsement of Childs.
Biden will reportedly begin meeting with potential nominees as early as next week and is choosing from a list of around 10 people. As Democrats currently have a razor thin majority in the Senate, it is unlikely Republicans will be able to prevent his nominee from being confirmed. It remains to be seen if the Senate GOP will decide to oppose Biden's choice given the arithmetic in the chamber.
About the writer
Darragh Roche is a U.S. News Reporter based in Limerick, Ireland. His focus is reporting on U.S. politics. He has ... Read more