WASHINGTON, D.C., USA — President Joe Biden on Thursday announced the nomination of J. Michelle Childs, a U.S. District Court judge for South Carolina, to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Childs would succeed Judge David Tatel, who announced his intention to step down from the court in February.
Childs has served as a United States District Court Judge for the District of South Carolina since 2010.
Childs previously served as a state trial court judge on the South Carolina Circuit Court from 2006 to 2010 and as a Commissioner on the South Carolina Workers’ Compensation Commission from 2002 to 2006. She was the Deputy Director of the Division of Labor at the South Carolina Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation from 2000 to 2002. From 1992 to 2000, Childs was an associate and then partner at the law firm Nexsen Pruet, LLP in Columbia, South Carolina.
Childs received her Master’s in Judicial Studies from Duke University School of Law in 2016. She received both her J.D. from the University of South Carolina School of Law and her M.A. in Personnel and Employment Relations from the University of South Carolina School of Business in 1991. Childs received her B.A., cum laude, from the University of Florida in 1988.
Biden also announced the nomination of Nancy Gbana Abudu for the United States Court of Appeals of the Eleventh Circuit. If confirmed, Abudu would be the first African-American woman judge ever to sit on the Eleventh Circuit, the second woman of color ever to sit on that court, and only the third African-American judge ever to sit on that court. She would also be the first person of color to serve on the Eleventh Circuit from Georgia.
The announcement marks Biden’s twelfth round of nominees for federal judicial positions, bringing the number of announced federal judicial nominees to 75.