Skip to content Skip to search

Republish This Story

* Please read before republishing *

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives Creative Commons license as long as you follow our republishing guidelines, which require that you credit The 19th and retain our pixel. See our full guidelines for more information.

To republish, simply copy the HTML at right, which includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to The 19th. Have questions? Please email [email protected].

— The Editors

Loading...

Modal Gallery

/
Sign up for our newsletter

Menu

  • Our Mission
  • Our Team
  • Latest Stories
  • Search
  • Upcoming Events
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletter
  • Donate
  • Work With Us
  • Fellowships
    • From the Collection

      Changing Child Care

      Illustration of a woman feeding a baby a bottle
      • Washington, D.C., offers financial relief to local child care workers

        Orion Rummler · September 20
      • As climate change worsens hurricane season in Louisiana, doulas are ensuring parents can safely feed their babies

        Jessica Kutz · May 5
      • Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito argued abortion isn’t an economic issue. But is that true?

        Chabeli Carrazana · May 4
    • From the Collection

      Next-Gen GOP

      Illustration of a woman riding an elephant
      • Mayra Flores’ victory set a record for women in Congress. It also reflects the growing visibility of Republican Latinas

        Candice Norwood · June 21
      • A banner year for Republican women

        Amanda Becker · November 11
      • Republican women could double representation in the U.S. House

        Amanda Becker · November 4
    • From the Collection

      On The Rise

      Illustration of three women marching
      • Can Cheri Beasley build a winning coalition in North Carolina?

        Candice Norwood · October 11
      • Los Angeles has never elected a woman mayor. Karen Bass hopes to change that.

        Nadra Nittle · September 8
      • Judge J. Michelle Childs is confirmed to D.C. appeals court

        Candice Norwood · July 20
    • From the Collection

      Pandemic Within a Pandemic

      Illustration of four people marching for Black Lives Matter with coronavirus as the backdrop
      • The 19th Explains: Why the nursing shortage isn’t going away anytime soon

        Mariel Padilla · September 23
      • Some LGBTQ+ people worry that the COVID-19 vaccine will affect HIV medication. It won’t.

        Orion Rummler · November 23
      • Why are more men dying from COVID? It’s a complicated story of nature vs. nurture, researchers say

        Mariel Padilla · September 22
    • From the Collection

      Portraits of a Pandemic

      Illustration of a woman wearing a mask and holding up the coronavirus
      • For family caregivers, COVID is a mental health crisis in the making

        Shefali Luthra · October 8
      • A new database tracks COVID-19’s effects on sex and gender

        Shefali Luthra · September 15
      • Pregnant in a pandemic: The 'perfect storm for a crisis'

        Shefali Luthra · August 25
    • From the Collection

      The 19th Explains

      People walking from many articles to one article where they can get the context they need on an issue.
      • The 19th Explains: What we know about Brittney Griner’s case and what it took to get her home

        Candice Norwood, Katherine Gilyard · December 8
      • The 19th Explains: Why the Respect for Marriage Act doesn’t codify same-sex marriage rights

        Kate Sosin · December 8
      • The 19th Explains: Why baby formula is still hard to find months after the shortage

        Mariel Padilla · December 1
    • From the Collection

      The Electability Myth

      Illustration of three women speaking at podiums
      • Mayra Flores’ victory set a record for women in Congress. It also reflects the growing visibility of Republican Latinas

        Candice Norwood · June 21
      • Stepping in after tragedy: How political wives became widow lawmakers

        Mariel Padilla · May 24
      • Do term limits help women candidates? New York could be a new testing ground

        Barbara Rodriguez · January 11
    • From the Collection

      The Impact of Aging

      A number of older people walking down a path of information.
      • From ballroom dancing to bloodshed, the older AAPI community grapples with gun control

        Nadra Nittle, Mariel Padilla · January 27
      • 'I'm planning on working until the day I die': Older women voters are worried about the future

        Mariel Padilla · June 3
      • Climate change is forcing care workers to act as first responders

        Jessica Kutz · May 31
    • From the Collection

      Voting Rights

      A series of hands reaching for ballots.
      • Election workers believe in our system — and want everyone else to, too

        Barbara Rodriguez, Jennifer Gerson · November 8
      • Voter ID laws stand between transgender people, women and the ballot box

        Barbara Rodriguez · October 14
      • Emily’s List expands focus on diverse candidates and voting rights ahead of midterm elections

        Errin Haines · August 30

    View all collections

  • Explore by Topic

    • 19th Polling
    • Abortion
    • Business & Economy
    • Caregiving
    • Coronavirus
    • Education
    • Election 2020
    • Election 2022
    • Environment & Climate
    • Health
    • Immigration
    • Inside The 19th
    • Justice
    • LGBTQ+
    • Politics
    • Press Release
    • Race
    • Sports
    • Technology

    View All Topics

Home
  • Our Mission
  • Our Team
  • Latest Stories
  • Search
  • Upcoming Events
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletter
  • Donate
  • Work With Us
  • Fellowships

We’re an independent, nonprofit newsroom reporting on gender, politics and policy. Read our story.

The 19th News(letter)

News from reporters who represent you and your communities.

You have been subscribed!

Submitting...

Uh-oh! Something went wrong. Please try again later.

Become a member

The 19th thanks our sponsors. Become one.

J. Michelle Childs listens during her nomination hearing.
Judge J. Michelle Childs, who was nominated by President Barack Obama to the U.S. District Court, listens during her nomination hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee in April 2010. (Charles Dharapak/AP)

Justice

Meet J. Michelle Childs, South Carolina judge and possible Supreme Court contender

Childs, who has strong backing from her state’s lawmakers, is a graduate of public universities and worked in both government and private practice before joining the bench.

Candice Norwood

Breaking News Reporter

Candice Norwood headshot

Published

2022-02-18 10:49
10:49
February 18, 2022
am

Share

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email

Among the women considered to be front-runners for the Supreme Court nomination, Judge J. Michelle Childs has some high-profile and vocal backers —as well as a background that sets her apart from the current justices.

Like all the other names being considered, Childs, a judge from South Carolina, would be the first Black woman nominated to the court. Unlike many of those considered for and ultimately nominated for the Supreme Court, though, she graduated from public universities, potentially bucking the narrow Ivy League pedigree that has become conventional for Supreme Court justices.

Childs, 55, has served as a judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina since 2010. In December, Biden nominated Childs to fill a vacancy on the appellate court in the D.C. Circuit, often viewed as the second-highest court after the Supreme Court, but the confirmation process has been put on hold as Biden considers potential high court nominees.  In her corner are two prominent South Carolina politicians: House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, whose support helped Biden notch his first primary victory, and Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham. 

The 19th thanks our sponsors. Become one.

Childs was born in Detroit, moved to South Carolina as a young teen and was raised mostly by her mother. Her father, a police officer, died from a gunshot wound when she was 14 years old. Childs went to public universities for both her undergraduate and professional degrees, receiving her bachelor’s from the University of South Florida and her law degree from the University of South Carolina.

Among the current nine justices, just one, Justice Amy Coney Barrett, graduated from a law school outside of the Ivy League. (She went to the University of Notre Dame.) Four graduated from Harvard Law School and four from Yale Law School. 

Childs’ lived experiences may be appealing to Biden, who has championed wider diversity on the court since taking office, said Taneisha N. Means, an assistant professor of political science at Vassar College who researches judiciary representation.

Stories by experienced reporters you can trust and relate to.

Delivered directly to your inbox every weekday.

You have been subscribed!

Submitting…

Uh-oh! Something went wrong. Please try again later.

“There’s a signal that [Biden] could send that you don’t have to fit the mold of the others that have gone before you,” Means said. “You can have this sort of social background and educational background, and you can still reach the bench. It does not make you any less qualified or fit for service in that arena.”

Prior to her federal court appointment, Childs spent nine years working at one of South Carolina’s largest law firms, Nexsen Pruet, where she became known as an expert in employment and labor law and was the first Black woman to make partner. Her experience included representing employers against workers in cases involving allegations of racial discrimination, civil rights violations and unionization efforts.

After Childs left private practice in 2000, she became the deputy director of the South Carolina Department of Labor for two years before being appointed by then-Democratic Gov. Jim Hodges to be a commissioner on the South Carolina Workers’ Compensation Commission. In 2006, Childs left that position when she was elected by South Carolina’s legislature to serve as a state circuit court judge. She made headlines in 2009 for sentencing five Black men to 25 years or more in prison for orchestrating one of the largest armored car heists in the country’s history. That, among other criminal rulings, could be a sore point for criminal justice reform advocates.

Among the notable decisions in Childs’ current role as a federal district judge is a 2014 ruling in favor of a lesbian couple challenging South Carolina’s refusal to recognize their marriage that was performed in Washington, D.C.

“Because marriage is a fundamental right, South Carolina’s marriage laws are subject to strict scrutiny and survive only if they are narrowly tailored to a compelling government interest,” Childs wrote in the court’s opinion on the case. “The court finds that South Carolina’s marriage laws are not narrowly tailored to serve a compelling state interest as they impermissibly infringe on Plaintiffs’ fundamental right to marry.”

  • More from The 19th on the upcoming Supreme Court nomination
    A man walks past the U.S. Supreme Court following a snowfall.
  • The 19th Explains: Biden has made his Supreme Court nomination. What’s next?
  • How Ketanji Brown Jackson’s pursuit of success as a lawyer and parent got her a Supreme Court nomination
  • Biden poised to nominate first Black woman to Supreme Court

Clyburn and Graham have been supporters of Childs going back to her 2010 district court confirmation. Clyburn told Axios he started advocating for Childs at the White House months before Breyer announced his retirement. In January, Graham, a Republican, described Childs as “one of the most decent people I’ve ever met.” And this month Graham said on ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” that Childs is “somebody, I think, that could bring the Senate together and probably get more than 60 votes.”

Though Senate Democrats, assuming they stick together, have just enough votes on their own to confirm whomever Biden picks, Childs’ moderate reputation and potential to attract Republican votes could be a factor for the president, who has openly expressed a desire for bipartisan backing on other issues. Another front-runner for the Supreme Court seat, appellate Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, was confirmed to her current position last summer with 53 votes in the Senate, but it’s unclear if the three Republicans who voted for her then — Graham, plus Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska – will do so again. Jackson is widely seen as a more progressive choice than Childs.  

Childs’ record as a private litigator in the employment law space has prompted some progressive groups and leaders in the labor movement to criticize her as a potential Supreme Court nominee.

Members of the House of Representatives, who have no official role in the process of putting a new justice on the Supreme Court, have also weighed in on their preferences. Michigan Rep. Andy Levin and New York Rep. Mondaire Jones, both Democrats, circulated a letter discussing the overrepresentation of “pro-corporate justices” and calling for a “labor-minded” nominee. A letter signed by 14 Black women members of Congress stated that appointing “a Black justice with a strong record of affirming constitutional rights is crucial in confronting this country’s racial, civil rights, and democratic crises.”

Biden has said he will announce his choice for Breyer’s replacement before the end of February. On February 10, Biden told the NBC News anchor Lester Holt that he has “taken about four people and done a deep dive on them, meaning thorough background checks and to see if there’s anything in the background that would make them not qualified.”

Breyer will officially step down at the end of the court’s term in early summer, but Senate Democrats have said they are eager to get started on the confirmation process as soon as possible.

Share

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email

Help sustain what we started

Your monthly investment is critical to our sustainability as a nonprofit newsroom.

Donate Today

Become a member

From the Collection

On The Rise

Illustration of three women marching
  • Can Cheri Beasley build a winning coalition in North Carolina?

    Candice Norwood · October 11
  • Los Angeles has never elected a woman mayor. Karen Bass hopes to change that.

    Nadra Nittle · September 8
  • Judge J. Michelle Childs is confirmed to D.C. appeals court

    Candice Norwood · July 20

Up Next

Ketanji Brown Jackson testifies before a Senate Judiciary Committee.

Justice

How Ketanji Brown Jackson’s pursuit of success as a lawyer and parent got her a Supreme Court nomination

In a 2017 speech to law students, the Supreme Court nominee talked about the difficulties of working at a big law firm — and how a confirmation hearing led her to knitting.

Read the Story

The 19th
The 19th is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. Our stories are free to republish in accordance with these guidelines.

  • Donate
  • Newsletter
  • Events
  • Search
  • Jobs
  • Fellowships
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Community Guidelines
  • Membership
  • Membership FAQ
  • Major Gifts
  • Sponsorship
  • Privacy
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram