Ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, Senator Lindsey Graham, RS.C., speaks during a hearing examining wages at large profit corporations on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S. today. February 25, 2021.
Susan Walsh | Reuters
WASHINGTON – Republican Senator. Lindsey Graham on Sunday predicted that if the President Joe Biden has nominated South Carolina federal judge Michelle Childs to replace retired Justice Stephen Breyer on the Supreme Court, Childs is likely to win more than 10 Republican votes in the Senate.
Graham said on ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos,” “She’s someone who can bring the Senate together and can get over 60 votes.” “Anyone else will have problems,” he added.
Once the chair of the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee, Graham hails from South Carolina like Childs, and he has appreciated her in the past.
“She is considered a highly gifted, fair-minded jurist,” Graham said in an interview in January, adding that Childs “is one of the kindest people I have ever met.” “.
Judge J. Michelle Childs of the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina is seen in an undated photo.
Courtesy of the United States District Court, District of South Carolina | Reuters
On Sunday, Graham once again praised the U.S. District Court judge, saying her humble background and non-Ivy League upbringing mean she brings diversity to the education community. the high court, which is full of Ivy League graduates.
Undisclosed is the fact that if Childs is confirmed, she will also become the first Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court, fulfilling Biden’s campaign promise to nominate a woman. black woman if he has the opportunity to fill an empty seat.
Also in Childs’ favor is the support she has from Democratic Representative James Clyburn of South Carolina.
A deeply influential figure in his home state, Clyburn’s endorsement of Biden in 2020, which came shortly before the South Carolina Democratic primaries, was seen by many as overturned. The opposite of Biden’s faltering campaign.
Childs is now one of three potential candidates on Biden’s shortlist for the supreme court, along with Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson of the United States Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit and California Supreme Court Justice Leondra Kruger.
As Biden prepares to interview the top three candidates this week, Graham’s prediction that Childs could win more than 10 Republican votes is crucial, as Graham also seems to be implying that if Biden wins nominate Childs, she’ll have a relatively smooth validation process. That could be very good news for a White House facing many domestic and global challenges.
Present, Biden’s job approval ratings are underwater with votersmany of them blame the president for the fact that inflation is at a 40-year high and the Covid pandemic shows no sign of ending anytime soon.
Abroad, Biden must face a military and foreign policy crisis in Ukrainewhere the imminent threat of a Russian invasion prompted the US to withdraw staff from its embassy in Kyiv and warn the Americans that war could break out “any day”.
Against that backdrop, an ugly, protracted Supreme Court confirmation battle this spring will tax the president’s time and his political capital, at a time when both are in short supply.
By contrast, if Childs is nominated and then confirmed with more than 10 Republican votes, as Graham predicted, it would represent a rare break from the increasingly partisan regime that has surpasses Washington in recent years and reflects a country where political divisions deepen.
With the Senate divided equally between Republicans and Democrats, Biden technically doesn’t need any Republican votes to confirm his candidacy as Vice President Kamala Harris would destroy broken relationship.
But a bipartisan confirmation vote of the kind that Graham predicts for Childs, with 10 or more Republicans crossing the aisle, would represent a much-needed political and personal victory for Biden.
As a candidate, Biden promised to rule as a center and a unifier. In practice, however, this proved to be much more difficult than it was imagined during the campaign.
US President Joe Biden speaks to the media as Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris receive Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin, a Democrat, and the head of the Republican Committee, Charles Grassley to discuss the upcoming seat of the Supreme Court of the United States in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, U.S., February 1, 2022.
Leah Millis | Reuters
A Supreme Court confirmation vote bringing together Democrats and Republicans would differ from the pattern established by the Supreme Court’s last two confirmations, that of Justice Brett Kavanaugh on in 2018 and Amy Coney Barrett in 2020.
Both Kavanaugh and Coney Barrett were endorsed by Republican-controlled Senates along the party line, without the Democratic vote.
Kavanaugh’s confirmation battle was the bitterest in recent memory, as senators weighed a sobering allegation of attempted sexual assault that was leveled against Kavanaugh during confirmation hearings. receive from him.
In contrast, Coney Barrett was confirmed before the supreme court last October, just 30 days after she was nominated by President Donald Trump.
Biden has promised to announce his nominee for the Supreme Court before the end of February.
