Jan. 29 (UPI) -- Julianna Michelle Childs, a federal judge for South Carolina since 2010, is under consideration to fulfill President Joe Biden's campaign pledge of placing the first Black woman on the Supreme Court, the White House confirmed.
The White House confirmed Friday that Childs, who House Democratic Whip James Clyburn, D-S.C., has championed, was one of Biden's potential picks, The Washington Post reported.
Childs is the first publicly confirmed name under consideration to replace Justice Stephen Breyer, who announced he would retire at the end of the court's current term that runs through June, according to the White House statement, which added there were several other people under consideration.
She has served on the federal bench in South Carolina since 2010 when she was appointed by then-President Barack Obama. She previously served as an at-large Circuit Court Judge for years in the the state after being elected by the South Carolina General Assembly in 2006.
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Prior to that, she served in two gubernatorial appointments, including commissioner on the South Carolina Worker's Compensation Commission and deputy director of the South Carolina Worker's Compensation Commission.
Childs was the first Black woman at a major law firm in the state before her gubernatorial appointments, and became an associate attorney at Nexsen Pruet Jacobs and Pollard law firm after she graduated from the University of South Carolina law school.
Last month, she was nominated to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, which is often considered the second-most influential court in the country, the Post noted, but her confirmation hearing has been delayed since she is under consideration for the high court.
"Judge Childs is among multiple individuals under consideration for the Supreme Court, and we are not going to move her nomination on the Court of Appeals while the president is considering her for this vacancy," the White House spokesman Andrew Bates said in a statement to CNN and the Post.
Other names discussed to be on the list, include D.C. Circuit Court Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, California Supreme Court Justice Leondra Kruger, civil rights attorney Sherrilyn Ifill, North Carolina Supreme Court Justice Anita Earls, New York University law professor Melissa Murray, and Minnesota federal District Judge Wilhelmina "Mimi" Wright, according to people familiar with the matter, the Post and CNN reported.
Earlier this week, Biden announced the retirement of Breyer, and confirmed he will fulfill his campaign promise to nominate the first Black female judge to the Supreme Court.
"The person I will nominate will be someone with extraordinary qualifications, character, experience and integrity," Biden said. "And that person will be the first Black woman ever nominated to the United States Supreme Court."
