Duke might soon have its first chance to send a former student to the Supreme Court.
The White House has confirmed that J. Michelle Childs, Law School ‘16, is on President Joe Biden’s list of potential nominees to replace longtime Justice Stephen Breyer, who announced his retirement from the Court Saturday. The announcement comes as Biden moves to fulfill a campaign promise he made during a Democratic primary debate to nominate the first Black woman to the Supreme Court.
“Judge Childs is among multiple individuals under consideration for the Supreme Court,” Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates said in a statement.
Childs has bipartisan backing from influential representatives in her home state of South Carolina.
“Judge Childs has everything I think it takes to be great,” said South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn, majority whip of the United States House of Representatives.
On the other side of the aisle, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham said that he “[couldn’t] think of a better person for [Biden] to select to the Supreme Court” than Childs.
Childs graduated from Duke Law School with an master’s degree in judicial studies in 2016. She earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of South Florida and her J.D. from the University of South Carolina School of Law.
To start her career, Childs worked at Nexsen Pruet Jacobs and Pollard, a management-side labor law firm in South Carolina. In this position, Childs became the first Black woman to become a partner of a major law firm in South Carolina.
After serving as an official in the South Carolina labor department and as a commissioner on the state workers’ compensation board, Childs was selected by the South Carolina General Assembly to be a state judge in 2006.
In 2010, former President Barack Obama nominated Childs to the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina.
Last month, before Breyer’s retirement announcement, Biden had nominated Childs to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. Bates said in his statement that they will not move her nomination to the Court of Appeals while Biden considers her for the Supreme Court vacancy.
The selection process for Breyer’s replacement is expected to last through February.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.
Anisha Reddy is a Trinity junior and a senior editor of The Chronicle's 118th volume.