A Detroit Women to Serve on the Supreme Court?

Federal Judge J. Michelle Childs was born in Detroit in 1966. She is now serving as a federal district judge in South Carolina but was nominated last month by President Biden to serve on
the Court of Appeals in Washington, DC. Judge Childs is
reported to be among the three most likely candidates to be
nominated by President Biden for the upcoming opening on
the Supreme Court. Detroit has contributed a great deal to our democracy. Perhaps Judge Childs will continue that tradition.

Who was the last Detroit person to serve on the Supreme Court? Undoubtedly Frank Murphy was the most well know
Detroit resident to serve with the Supremes but he was
born in the Thumb.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by renf

... Who was the last Detroit person to serve on the Supreme Court? Undoubtedly Frank Murphy was the most well know
Detroit resident to serve with the Supremes but he was
born in the Thumb.

---

Good question so I did a fairly thorough search and found two others with Detroit connections.

Henry Billings Brown practiced admiralty law in Detroit.

Byron White played for the Detroit Lions.

From what I can tell from her various online bios it looks like Judge Childs left Detroit for South Carolina when she was 13. The rest of her schooling and her entire career have been in the the south after that. So while it's certainly interesting news that she was born here, she really has considerably less adult connection to the city than Justice Murphy who was mayor of the city for 2 terms [[2 year terms in those days) in addition to serving as a US Attorney here, and being a Recorders Court judge, and, later, Governor of Michigan.

Yes, the POTUS said a black woman:

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/26/u...ack-woman.html

He mentioned nothing about qualifications.

We shall assume.........?

And NO I am NOT assuming there are not black women so qualified. But it will be interesting WHO IS CHOSEN. And why.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Zacha341

Yes, the POTUS said a black woman:

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/26/u...ack-woman.html

He mentioned nothing about qualifications.

We shall assume.........

And NO I am NOT assuming there are not black women so qualified. But it will be interesting WHO IS CHOSEN. And why.

---

Thanks for the valuable insight.

^ You're welcome. As black woman I was in that position once [chosen solely for my race and other factors unrelated to the job offered]. I spoke up, declining the position. I did not want to be under the hammer of 'rights and obligations' [their rights, my obligation[s]] - unknown and pending.

I have never wanted recognition, my positioning, or ascension - personally or professionally [at least as far as I could/ can assess such], so readily questioned OR leveraged! However, it can still, and does occur even under the best of circumstances, withstanding merit and ability.

I have experienced that as well.

Thanks for all the comments. Frank Murphy was the Supreme Court
justice with the strongest ties to Detroit. I had forgotten about
Whizzer White and his years of employment at Briggs Stadium.
Henry Billings Brown did have strong ties to Detroit since he
practiced law here for years. Unfortunately for him, he is best
remembered for writing the majority decision in Plessy v. Furgeson.
But this did give Justice Harlan to write what may be most famous
dissent by a justice.
Thank you for the information.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Zacha341

^ You're welcome. As black woman I was in that position once [chosen solely for my race and other factors unrelated to the job offered]. I spoke up, declining the position. I did not want to be under the hammer of 'rights and obligations' [their rights, my obligation[s]] - unknown and pending.

I have never wanted recognition, my positioning, or ascension - personally or professionally [at least as far as I could/ can assess such], so readily questioned OR leveraged! However, it can still, and does occur even under the best of circumstances, withstanding merit and ability.

I have indeed experienced that as well.

---

Apples and oranges. There are plenty of qualified candidates of various races and certainly a black woman who can do the job as well as anyone else so there's nothing wrong about righting an injustice that's gone on for a hundred years. Now if he happens to think the best candidate is a black woman who happens to be Republican...:)

I did not say there were not.

I know better than that experientially.

But sometimes those doing the 'choosing' DON'T care; have other motives and if I were the recipient of such, and not up for the job, I'd be thinking about what that means...

Recall also I precisely said THIS in my earlier post:

'NO I am NOT assuming there are not black women so qualified.'

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by 401don

Apples and oranges. There are plenty of qualified candidates of various races and certainly a black woman who can do the job as well as anyone else so there's nothing wrong about righting an injustice that's gone on for a hundred years. Now if he happens to think the best candidate is a black woman who happens to be Republican...:)

---