Biden Snubs Rep. Clyburn with Ketanji Brown Jackson Appointment to SCOTUS

President Joe Biden nominated Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday, despite Rep. James Clyburn’s (D-SC) efforts to get Biden to nominate South Carolina federal judge Michelle Childs.

When Biden was struggling with his Democrat opponents during the 2020 primary season, Clyburn suggested he pledge to nominate a black woman to the nation’s highest court to get a campaign boost. Biden followed Clyburn’s advice, received his endorsement, and went on to win the South Carolina primary election. Biden’s victory in South Carolina gave his campaign a much-needed boost in momentum coming off of losses in Iowa, New Hampshire, and Nevada.

On Friday, Biden made good on his promise and nominated Jackson, a D.C. Circuit Court judge, to the Supreme Court, calling her “one of our nation’s brightest legal minds.”

However, Clyburn advocated for a different black woman than Biden eventually nominated. Clyburn was a long-time advocate for South Carolina federal judge Michelle Childs, who Biden nominated to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals one month before Justice Stephen Breyer’s retirement announcement.

Childs had bipartisan support from South Carolina’s two Republican Senators, Tim Scott and Lindsey Graham.

Sen. Scott is “disappointed” with Biden’s decision to nominate Jackson over Childs, according to a statement.

“I believe Judge Michelle Childs would have been an excellent nominee to our nation’s highest court,” Scott said. “I am disappointed that President Biden missed the opportunity to nominate a highly-qualified judge who would have garnered widespread, bipartisan support.”

Graham supported Childs for the Supreme Court due to her non-Ivy League legal education. “The Harvard-Yale train to the Supreme Court continues to run unabated,” Graham said.

Childs received her undergraduate degree from the University of South Florida and her law degree from the University of South Carolina.

Graham later claimed that Jackson’s nomination is proof that “the radical Left has won President Biden over yet again.”

Graham tweeted:

If media reports are accurate, and Judge Jackson has been chosen as the Supreme Court nominee to replace Justice Breyer, it means the radical Left has won President Biden over yet again. The attacks by the Left on Judge Childs from South Carolina apparently worked.

Clyburn echoed Graham’s points about Childs’s education last month. “I am very, very concerned that we take on this elitist kind of atmosphere when we pretend that the only way you can demonstrate leadership qualifications is to go to certain schools. I don’t think that’s right,” the South Carolina congressman said.

Despite Biden’s choice to replace Justice Breyer, Clyburn called Jackson “outstanding” and applauded Biden for keeping his promise to nominate a black woman to the Supreme Court.