Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) told the CBS’s news program “Face the Nation” Sunday he is “a big admirer” of U.S. District Court Judge Michelle Childs and believes the U.S. Supreme Court could benefit from someone, like the federal court judge from South Carolina, outside the usual Ivy League feeder system.
“I can’t think of a better person,” Graham said at one point. Childs has presided over several Department of Energy and nuclear cases since becoming a federal judge in 2010 including a recent decision upholding a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for employees of the management and operations contract for the Savannah River Site.
On Sunday’s program, host Margaret Brennan quoted Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) as saying Childs, a candidate to succeed retiring Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, would win votes from South Carolina’s two Republican senators, Graham and Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.). Any GOP support for President Joe Biden’s eventual high court nominee would be big in a Senate split 50-50 along party lines.
While declining to disclose how he might vote, Graham described Childs as extremely well-respected. The South Carolina Republican proceeded to reel off a portion of Childs’ educational and work background and concluded by saying he is “a big admirer” of Childs. Brennan replied that it sounded like a fairly “glowing” assessment.
Biden has not yet nominated anyone to succeed Breyer, who only formally announced his retirement Thursday. The president, who last week reiterated his campaign promise to nominate a black woman for the Supreme Court, expects to reveal his pick by the end of February.
In the setup to the Graham interview, the CBS program seemed to characterize Childs as the No. 3 candidate at this early stage behind Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, a Biden nominee who was confirmed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in June, as well as California Supreme Court Justice Leondra Kruger, who argued a dozen cases before the Supreme Court while working in the Office of the Solicitor General.
Brown Jackson has degrees from Harvard College and Harvard Law School. Kruger has degrees from Harvard College and the Yale School.
Although Childs has already been nominated by the Biden administration to serve alongside Brown Jackson on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, media accounts tend to characterize the Childs’ resume as a bit less elite and more everywoman.
According to the South Carolina Bar Association, Childs previously served as a South Carolina At-Large Circuit Court judge, with responsibility for administering a business court. She has also worked as a workers’ compensation commissioner in the state. She holds degrees from the University of South Florida and the University of South Carolina School of Law.
