South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham (R) seems to have publicly endorsed J. Michelle Childs for the vacant Supreme Court seat in the wake of Justice Stephen Breyer‘s retirement announcement.
“I can’t think of a better person for President Biden to consider for the Supreme Court than Michelle Childs. She has wide support in our state, she’s considered to be a fair-minded, highly gifted jurist. She’s one of the most decent people I’ve ever met,” Graham said of the district judge from his home state on CBS’ Face the Nation.
Other South Carolina officials have voiced support for Childs as well.
“What this says to every little child out there growing up under moderate circumstances, needing the entire community to help raise it, getting scholarships to go off to school because couldn’t afford to go, otherwise going to public schools because you didn’t get an offer from one of the big private schools – it says to them, you’ve got just as much of a chance to benefit from the greatness of this country as everybody else,” House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-South Carolina) said.
Graham responded to Sen. Roger Wicker‘s (R-Mississippi) suggestion that Biden’s nominee would be a beneficiary of affirmative action and concern that it would affect the court’s rulings on affirmative action cases.
“I believe there are plenty of qualified African-American women, conservative and liberal, that could go on to the court. So I don’t see Michelle Childs as an act of affirmative action. I do see putting a Black woman on the court, making the court more like America,” Graham said. “So let’s make the court more like America, but qualifications have to be the biggest consideration, and as to Michelle Childs, I think she is qualified by every measure.”
Childs is the only White House-confirmed candidate.
