- Lindsey Graham blasted Biden's Supreme Court pick on Friday, declaring "the radical Left has won."
- But Jim Clyburn, who was also a vocal advocate for Judge J. Michelle Childs, pushed back on that.
- "I do not see Judge Brown Jackson as being radical at all," he told reporters Friday.
House Democratic Whip Jim Clyburn of South Carolina pushed back on Sen. Lindsey Graham's criticism of President Joe Biden's nomination of DC Court of Appeals Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to serve on the Supreme Court.
Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, declared on Friday that "the radical Left has won over President Biden" after Biden did not choose South Carolina District Judge J. Michelle Childs, for whom he'd been advocating.
"I do not see Judge Brown Jackson as being radical at all. I do not," he said on a press call in response to a question by Insider. "And evidently, [Graham] was among the three that voted for her confirmation to be on the DC Circuit. And so I think that she's deserving of a strong bipartisan vote and I hope she gets it."
Clyburn, Graham, and Republican Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina had all been unified in pushing for Biden to appoint Childs to replace the retiring liberal Justice Stephen Breyer.
—Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) February 2, 2022
But Biden opted for Judge Jackson, a member of the DC Court of Appeals who was confirmed to that position in June 2021. Graham was among three Republican senators to vote for her confirmation to the appellate court.
"I am disappointed that President Biden missed the opportunity to nominate a highly-qualified judge who would have garnered widespread bipartisan support," Sen. Scott said in a statement on Friday.
Clyburn told reporters that he respectfully disagrees with Graham's assessment, and that their differing backgrounds may play a role in their difference of opinion.
"Now, Senator Graham and I are friends. Senator Graham and I have a different background and different experiences, and we can see the same thing and interpret them differently because of those backgrounds and experiences," he said. "And that's got nothing to do with him being... white and not being Black."
He also offered a conciliatory note towards Biden, explaining that he simply saw it as his role to advocate for someone from his state.
"I'm Black, and I'm a southerner. And I do everything I can to promote southerners and Black people who are deserving of attention for public office," he said. "I tell people all the time. When you play the game, you may not always win. But if you don't play the game, you will never win."
The South Carolina Democrat, who played a pivotal role in helping Biden win the Democratic nomination by endorsing him ahead of the South Carolina Democratic Primary in 2020, also told reporters that he hadn't spoken with Childs since Breyer announced his retirement.
"This seems to surprise a lot of people, but I never spoke with Judge Childs throughout this entire episode. Never," said Clyburn. "In fact, it's been months since I've even seen Judge Childs."
Clyburn also took credit for Childs being a Supreme Court contender in the first place.
"Let me just say this — how many of you had ever heard of Michelle Childs before the public advocacy took place?" he said. "It never would have happened had not Senators Scott, and Graham, and yours truly started to publicly advocate for her."