Supreme Court Appointment
February 1, 2022
Last week, 86-year-old Justice Stephen Breyer announced his retirement from the Supreme Court. President Biden has yet to release a list of possible candidates, but he has committed to nominating an African American woman to the bench. Judge J. Michelle Childs is expected to be on the short-list, and is viewed by multiple Senators as the best possible nominee.
Justice Breyer was appointed to the Supreme Court in 1994 by former President Bill Clinton. Calls for Breyer to step down from the bench have grown after the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, which led to the appointment of the conservative Amy Coney Barrett.
When visiting the White House to formalize his retirement, Stephen Breyer had this to say: “This is a complicated country. There are more than 330 million people, and my mother used to say it’s every race, it’s every religion — and she would emphasize this — and it’s every point of view possible. And it’s a kind of miracle when you sit there and see all those people in front of you. People that are so different in what they think. And yet they’ve decided to help solve their major differences under law.”
President Biden has promised to nominate a black woman to the bench, and Senators have had a range of reactions to his decision. Democratic Representative Jim Clyburn of South Carolina suggested Childs be nominated to the court. Childs also comes from the state of South Carolina. Clyburn is widely credited as the reason for Joe Biden’s primary election win, as Clyburn publicly supported him after his dimal showings in other state primaries. Another member of Congress from South Carolina, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, also holds positive views of Childs. In an interview, Graham said, “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.”
The positive view of Judge Childs isn’t shared by everyone, though. Republican Senator Roger Wicker claimed that she would be the beneficiary of affirmative action. Senator Ted Cruz added that her nomination was “offensive” and “insulting”. Whether or not Child’s is ultimately sent to the bench, the Supreme Court will continue to affect Americans’ lives every day.
