WILLIAMSON COUNTY, IL – The Marion Police department is asking for the public’s assistance in locating 15-year-old Lauren Tooley. Tooley was reported as a runaway on Oct. 27. She was last seen in the Marion area on Nov. 9 getting into a black 4 door SUV. She hasn’t been seen or heard from since. According to the Marion Police Department, Tooley is believed to be with a middle aged black man in the Marion/Carbondale area. Tooley is 5 feet 4 inches tall, weighs 165 pounds, has long wavy brown hair that is dyed red in the front and has brown eyes. Tooley also has a tattoo inside her left ankle that says “Brooklyn”. Anyone with information on the location of Tooley should contact the Marion Police Department at 618-993-2124. Currently in Paducah Sorry, there are no recent results for popular articles. Sorry, there are no recent results for popular videos.
The Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office is mourning the loss of 53-year-old Damon Acuff, who died Monday from COVID-19 complications at Mercy Health Lourdes Hospital. Acuff, a Metropolis resident, was the warden at the Pulaski County Detention Center. He had served the county since 2010, according to the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office. Funeral arraignments are being made through Aikins-Farmer-Loftus-McManus Funeral Home. To read Acuff’s full obituary, click here. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Currently in Paducah
UPDATE 11/22 AT 7PM: The eastbound lanes of I-24 have reopened. Details of the accident have not yet been reported. The Metropolis Police Department is reporting Interstate 24 eastbound is currently closed due to a multi-vehicle accident. The police department is asking drivers to avoid I-24. This is a breaking story, traffic updates will follow. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Currently in Paducah
SPRINGFIELD — The Illinois Supreme Court is being asked to consider the laws of California and the U.S. Constitution in ruling on one man’s eligibility to be issued a Firearm Owners Identification card by the Illinois State Police. On Thursday the state’s high court heard oral arguments in Thomas Brown v. the Illinois State Police in which Brown is seeking to have his FOID rights restored so he can participate in target shooting, hunting and be able to defend himself, according to a court filing. The court only heard arguments in the case, with opinions expected later this month or in October. Brown was a FOID cardholder for several years, most recently applying for and being granted renewal in 2013. But in 2016, he tried to purchase a gun at a federal firearm licensee, leading the state police to conduct a background check that unearthed a 2001 California conviction on a “misdemeanor offense of inflicting corporal injury on a spouse” that Brown did not disclose on his FOID application. In that case, Brown and his then-wife had an argument in a parking lot, after which Brown picked her up, according to the court filing, and she ended up “crawling down his back” and sustaining “minor road rash,” for which she did not seek medical attention. Brown spent three days in jail and eventually pleaded guilty and paid a $500 fine because, according to the court filing, “otherwise it would have cost him $5,000 to bail out of jail so that he could fight the case and he was advised by the company that he worked for at the time to take the plea bargain.” Brown’s lawyer, James R. Angel of May, May, Angel & Harris in Princeton, Illinois, questioned whether Brown knew the arrangement would affect his gun rights. The conviction ultimately qualified as a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence, prohibiting Brown from possessing a firearm under federal law. Because Illinois’ FOID Act states that a card may not be issued “contrary to federal law,” the state police revoked his card upon the failed background check. Federal law does, however, allow exceptions for gun ownership if a person convicted of a domestic violence misdemeanor has had their “civil rights restored” in the jurisdiction that convicted them – in this case, California. In a 2020 case, Johnson v. the Illinois State Police, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled gun ownership is a “civil right” in terms of the federal provision, a precedent cited heavily in Brown’s court filings. Angel is primarily asking the Illinois Supreme Court to interpret whether a specific California law constitutes a restoration of civil rights. Brown’s legal team specifically noted that California only penalizes gun possession for 10 years following a misdemeanor conviction. That means, they argue, Brown had his civil rights restored under California law in 2011, qualifying him for the federal exception which would in turn qualify him for a FOID card. “If California has a problem with Mr. Brown being able to possess a firearm, California can change its very clear statute,” Angel argued before the court. Katelin Buell, a lawyer for the attorney general’s office which represents the state police, said California’s 10-year window is “a matter of forbearance, not forgiveness.” It prevents prosecutors from charging someone convicted of a misdemeanor after 10 years but does not satisfy the “civil rights restored” exception in federal law, meaning it is “not a substitute for an affirmative statement of restoration and forgiveness,” according to Buell. “The convicting jurisdiction of California employs a different restoration process for civil rights, including firearm rights, than in Illinois, and California would not grant Brown this relief without him first seeking a pardon, which he has not done,” Buell argued. If the Supreme Court does not determine that the California law equates to a restoration of civil rights, Brown’s lawyers have asked it to consider the case through the lens of the U.S. Constitution. Specifically, Angel asserted that requiring a person who “poses no risk to the general public” to successfully seek a pardon for a misdemeanor before they can own a firearm is an unconstitutional “perpetual ban” on gun ownership. The state argued the constitutional question is “premature” because Brown hasn’t even attempted all non-constitutional alternatives for rectifying the denial, including seeking pardon or expungement. “If a pardon’s denied, to the best of my knowledge, you can always apply again,” Angel said. “So hypothetically that remedy is never met.” The state also argued the Supreme Court can avoid the constitutional question by applying the legal principles of the FOID Act, which says ISP can deny a FOID if issuing it would be against the public interest. In court documents, the state cited Brown’s 2001 arrest, a 2005 DUI conviction in Bureau County, a 2005 arrest for battery in LaSalle County that did not lead to criminal charges, and a 1997 conviction for misdemeanor assault that occurred when he was a minor. But Brown’s lawyers cited testimony from his current wife, who said he always practiced firearm safety, and a letter sent by his ex-wife, which stated “she did not believe he was a danger to himself or others,” after the 2001 incident, “and that she believed he was not likely to act in a manner dangerous to public safety if his FOID card was restored,” according to the court filing. Even considering that, Buell said, Brown omitted the 2001 conviction from his FOID application, which is reason enough for a denial. According to court documents, Brown said he did not divulge the 2001 conviction because he thought he had received court supervision rather than a conviction. Brown’s case originated in Putnam County, where the court awarded him the FOID card and stated he had met the qualifications in the FOID statute. Angel said that decision was made in part as a response to the positive letter from Brown’s ex-wife and because Brown’s current wife has guns in their home with a court’s permission, indicating a lack of danger because no incidents have occurred. The state appealed to the 3rd District Appellate Court, which reversed the Putnam County decision in a 2-1 vote. Justice Robert Carter, who currently sits on the Supreme Court after being appointed to replace Justice Thomas Kilbride in December, wrote the opinion reversing the Putnam County order, which focused on the “civil rights restored” component rather than the constitutional argument. “The exception (to federal law) cannot apply in this case, however, because Brown’s California conviction was never expunged or set aside, Brown was never pardoned for that conviction, and Brown never had his civil rights revoked and restored in California as a result of that conviction,” he wrote. Carter has recused himself from the Supreme Court’s decision on the case, due to his involvement at the appellate level.
Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer is expected to deliver his official announcement of retirement Thursday (January 27), leaving an open seat for President Joe Biden to fulfill a campaign promise: to nominate a Black woman to the nation’s highest court. The nomination of a Black woman would be history-making since, out of the 115 Supreme Court Justices nominated to the court, none have been Black women, and only two Black men have served on the bench. Since taking office, Biden has doubled the number of Black women serving the federal court system overall, creating a political lay-up of sorts for this anticipated and historical nomination process. These are five Black women judges who experts say have most likely made Biden’s short list of nominees. Ketanji Brown Jackson Current Role: US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Education: Harvard University and Harvard School of Law Judge Brown Jackson, a native of Florida clerked for Justice Breyer and was elevated to the DC Court of Appeals last year. Leondra Kruger Current Role: California Supreme Court Education: Harvard University and Yale University Justice Kruger made California history becoming the youngest person nominated to the state’s high court in 2014. She also worked in the Solicitor General’s Office, arguing 12 cases before the Supreme Court, representing the government. Justice Leondra Kruger of the California Supreme Court has many of the qualifications typical of nominees for vacancies on the U.S. Supreme Court. She served as an acting deputy solicitor general in the Obama administration. https://t.co/Tp7l0nKcBR — The New York Times (@nytimes) January 27, 2022 J. Michelle Childs Current Role: South Carolina US District Court Education: University of Florida and University of South Carolina School of Law Judge Childs previously served as a commissioner on the South Carolina Worker’s Compensation Commission and was recently nominated to the DC Court of Appeals. Sherrilyn Ifill Current Role: NAACP Legal Defense Fund Education: New York University and New York University School of Law Ifill is a civil rights attorney and taught law at the University of Maryland School of Law in Baltimore for 20 years. Candace Jackson-Akiwumi Current Role: US Court of Appeals for the 7th District Education: Princeton University and Yale University Judge Jackson-Akiwumi was appointed to the 7th District Court during Biden’s first round pick of judicial nominees. Leslie Abrams Gardner Current Role: US District Court for the Middle District of Georgia Education: Brown University and Yale University Judge Gardner halted the election corruption during the 2020 election and is the younger sister of voting rights advocate and gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams. Probably a longshot but a name that I would keep an eye on: Leslie Abrams Gardner. She was one of Obama’s appointees to the Middle District of Georgia and she just so happens to be Stacey Abrams’ younger sister. #gapol#SCOTUSpic.twitter.com/r6gy6q6bQ1 — Niles Francis (@NilesGApol) January 26, 2022 Get the latest news 24/7 on The Black Information Network. Listen now on theiHeartRadio appor clickHEREto tune in live. Black Information Network is the first and only 24/7 national and local all-news audio service dedicated to providing an objective, accurate and trusted source of continual news coverage with a Black voice and perspective. BIN is enabled by the resources, assets and financial support of iHeartMedia and the support of its Founding Partners: Bank of America, CVS Health, GEICO, Lowe’s, McDonald’s USA, Sony, 23andMe and Verizon. BIN is focused on service to the Black community and providing an information window for those outside the community to help foster communication, accountability and deeper understanding. Black Information Network is distributed nationally through the iHeartRadio app and accessible via mobile, smart speakers, smart TVs and other connected platforms, and on dedicated all-news local broadcast AM/FM radio stations. BIN also provides the news service for iHeartMedia’s 106 Hip Hop, R&B and Gospel stations across the country. Please visit www.BINNews.com for more information. See author's posts
WFRV Local 5 – Green Bay, Appleton by: Devin Willems MECAN, Wis. (WFRV) – A mobile home in central Wisconsin exploded on Christmas Day, and luckily no one was injured. According to the Princeton Fire and Rescue, on Dec. 25 around 1:45 p.m. authorities got a 9-1-1 call of a mobile home explosion. Authorities say that no one was in the home when the explosion happened. The explosion happened at Puckaway Shores in Mecan (which is in Marquette County). The structure blew outward with debris getting littered across the area. Multiple agencies responded to the incident including the Princeton Fire Department, Marquette County EMS and Marquette County Sheriff’s Deputies. The explosion is under investigation by the Princeton Fire and Rescue Department as well as the Marquette County Sheriff’s Office. Local 5 will continue to update this story as more information is released. Copyright 2022 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. GREEN BAY, Wis. (WFRV) – The #2 ranked team in Division 2, Notre Dame Tritons, hosted the #1 ranked team in Division 3, Waupun Warriors, Monday evening. The Warriors were in control most of the first half and headed into halftime with the 27-23 lead. GREEN BAY, Wis. (WFRV) – Deedra Irwin is an athlete above all else and she has a message for all the young girls out there questioning their path in athletics. “For any of the girls out there who think it’s not possible it definitely is,” said Deedra Irwin. APPLETON, Wis. (WFRV)- There’s a new person in charge of public health policy in Appleton. His name is Chuck Sepers. He understands that public health officials are more in the spotlight now than ever before because of the pandemic and says he’s ready to be the face of public health in Appleton.
Sign up to get the most recent local obituaries delivered to your inbox. BLOOMINGTON — Shawn Michael Everly, age 57, of Bloomington, IL, passed away Thursday, November 18, 2021. Shawn was born on March 22, 1964, in South Bend, IN. He was raised by Arthur and Patricia Rudynski Smith. He moved to Princeton, IL, where he met and later married Debra Lynn Nelson on October 10, 1987. After graduating from the University of Missouri – Rolla, he and Deb settled in Central Illinois, where they raised their seven children. For 12 years, he worked as a software developer for Country Financial before transitioning to State Farm, where he worked for 14 years, most recently as a senior software engineer. He was a member of Eastview Christian Church and loved his family, worship music, and the outdoors. Surviving are his parents, Arthur and Patricia Smith of Appleton, WI; his wife of 34 years, Deb Everly of Bloomington, IL; seven children: Matthew (Emily) Everly of Bloomington, IL, Ryan (fiance Anna Goshinska) Everly of Lakewood, CO, Joshua Everly of Bethalto, IL, Jacob, Zack, Sophia and Katelyn Everly of Bloomington, IL; two grandchildren: Olivia and Theo Everly of Bloomington, IL; sister, Colleen (Bill) Murray of Menasha, WI; and his mother-in-law, Dorothy (Gerald) Carver of Champaign, IL. Shawn is preceded in death by his father-in-law, Ronald Nelson; and his grandparents. A private family service will be held at a later date. To share your condolences, please visit www.calvertmemorial.com. Memorial contributions may be made to Eagle’s Nest Children’s Home (https://gofund.me/62296834) or the Everly Children Education Fund (https://gofund.me/3ed46ff5). “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38-39. Sign up to get the most recent local obituaries delivered to your inbox. Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device.
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Evanston RoundTable Evanston’s community newspaper since 1998 While I was sitting across from Elizabeth “Betty” Imbrie Werrenrath, I couldn’t help but think about our age difference – 84 years. While my earliest memories are trips to Disney World in the early 2000s, Betty’s stretch back to World War I. Before our interview, I was surprised to find glimpses of her life online – her high school and college alumni newsletters, records of the short films she made with her husband and even her engagement and wedding announcement in the New York Times from 1937. I knew right away this was a woman who really lived, and upon meeting her, all my suspicions were confirmed. Betty wanted to speak in person rather than over the phone, so I put on my N-95 mask and walked into the Highlands Assisted Living at Westminster Place on Simpson Street, passing a garden I soon would learn her late husband Reinald Werrenrath Jr. had advocated for. After a temperature check, we headed back to her apartment where I learned about her long life and great love, Reinald, and the wonderful parts of her 108 years. Betty was born on Jan. 28, 1914, in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Her father went to Princeton University and her mother to Vassar College. Her father was a progressive Presbyterian minister who inspired Betty to spend a life dedicated to service and justice. “I had an incredible upbringing, but I was always a preacher’s kid and I had to act decently in the world because he was so well-known,” she said. “I just automatically did what I thought was right.” She attended Walnut Hill School for the Arts, at the time an all-girls private boarding school in Natick, Mass., and graduated in 1931. Today she is the school’s oldest living alumna. Her yearbook biography (pictured above) begins, “Dashing down the field, making baskets, shooting goals, and lobbing balls across the net – that’s Imbrie, Athletic Association President…and we bet she’s going to make some army officer a wonderful wife! ” Although she didn’t marry an army officer, she found the love of her very long life at Wells College in Aurora, New York. Reinald and Betty were married for 82 years but knew each other for 86. Reinald was visiting Wells, where his sister also attended, and asked her to find him a date. Reinald’s sister started listing people and when she mentioned Betty, Reinald was interested. But she was a minister’s daughter, his sister said, so she assumed he wouldn’t be interested. Reinald didn’t care and they went on their first date. When I asked Betty if she missed Reinald, she said, “We had 86 years together, it was incredible. When I get sad and tearful, I think, ‘What are you crying about? You had a wonderful life and how many people do you know got to love somebody for 86 years?’” But Reinald isn’t the whole story, Betty had her own life, too. She was the president of her freshman class at Wells and an athlete with a full scholarship that included a job in the alumni office. She played field hockey, soccer, lacrosse, tennis and golf. “I seemed to speak out early,” Betty said when I asked her about her multiple passions and interests in college. This same drive for advocacy and involvement followed her for the rest of her life. She graduated with a degree in art history in 1935 and married Reinald in 1937. Betty and Reinald moved to Forest Hills, New York, and Betty worked at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Reinald at NBC. He was asked to relocate to Chicago to launch WBKB, now known as ABC-7, Chicago’s first commercially licensed television station. In 2016, Reinald gave an interview with ABC-7 as the last surviving member of the original WBKB team. “I couldn’t have visualized what it’s [television] like today, but I knew it was a big thing of the future,” he said. Betty and Reinald moved to Hinman Ave in Evanston in 1940, and Kirsten, their first child, was born in 1941. In 1942, duty called, and Reinald joined the armed forces as a Navy Officer Candidate School in World War II. During the war, Betty and Kirsten moved back to New York to live with her family. “The world was an exciting place, but then the war came, and of course, it changed everybody’s lives,” Betty said. After his military service, Reinald and Betty landed in Highland Park, where they resided for 53 years. Their two sons, Reinald (Ren) and Peter, were born. Reinald resumed his television career and both he and Betty became active members of the community, championing human rights and education. Betty volunteered with Meals on Wheels, worked with local churches on youth reading programs and advocated for social justice and equality in and outside of their church. Betty says she doesn’t see God as someone up in the sky “watching” over us. “I’m a progressive. I believe that if there is an organization, like the church, not everyone is theological-oriented, but everybody has an experience relating to other people,” she said. “I see changes that need to be made and that is what I have been doing for years.” The next half century was filled with travel, equity work, family and short films – Reinald and Betty made over 100 16mm educational films that were distributed nationwide. In 1998, they moved into a townhouse in Presbyterian Homes in Evanston. Twenty years later, Reinald had a stroke at age 103. They settled into a new apartment in assisted living and Reinald passed away in 2019 at 104. When Reinald passed, Betty said she was thankful to be able to stay in the same apartment, as she can still feel a part of him with her. As COVID-19 came and swept through assisted and independent living facilities, Betty spent a lot more time secluded in her room, something she wasn’t used to. Friends could call but it wasn’t the same as visiting in person. “It wasn’t easy,” she said. “It’s exciting to be part of the world, and that’s one of the troubles of being 107, you feel like you are cut off, except when you stick your nose in.” Betty does her best thinking in the morning at her desk. She is on three committees: newcomers, spirituality and recycling. Until Betty, the assisted living facility did not have recycling cans in their rooms. She said she has to be involved. “If you sit in your home and watch the world go by, you’re not worth living. I may be old, but I have learned a lot and I am still learning. I am not afraid of dying, but I don’t want to die yet.” When asked why she thinks she lived so long, Betty said she goes on a walk every day, is an avid reader and follows the 4A’s, a system she created: Accept what you have, adapt to that acceptance, act on it and have a good attitude. “I have to accept the fact that I am a 107 and I am limited by my eyesight and be grateful,” she said. And when it comes to Reinald, she says she has to accept that he passed, but that they spent nearly a century inseparable. “Do I ever get lonely? Yes and no. Reinald was such an important part of my life; he is still with me in spirit.” As our interview ended, Betty and I talked about my life a little. I told her I had a boyfriend, and she said, “Thank goodness. That’s all I want to know.” Betty was 23 years old when she got married, the same age I am now. As I write this article, I’m reminded that love is the one thing that doesn’t change based on the decade. It is a constant we can always count on, and if we’re lucky, it may just last almost a century. Happy 108th Birthday, Betty Werrenrath!
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{{#message}}{{{message}}}{{/message}}{{^message}}Your submission failed. The server responded with {{status_text}} (code {{status_code}}). Please contact the developer of this form processor to improve this message. Learn More{{/message}} {{#message}}{{{message}}}{{/message}}{{^message}}It appears your submission was successful. Even though the server responded OK, it is possible the submission was not processed. Please contact the developer of this form processor to improve this message. Learn More{{/message}} Submitting… What a lovely story! How did you hear of this woman?? Happy Birthday Betty! I so enjoyed learning about you; you are an inspiration. Engaging interview and writing – thank you Sam and the RoundTable for this story. Happy birthday Betty. God bless you. Wish I could spend it with you. Jonathan Gibralter, President of Wells College The Evanston RoundTable is the community’s leading source of news about local government, schools, civic and artistic activities, and other important issues facing our city. We seek to foster civic engagement and empower people to address complex issues facing our diverse community, promoting a better understanding and appreciation of people of all races, ethnicities, and income levels. Evanston Roundtable 1514 Elmwood Avenue Suite 2 Evanston, Illinois 60201 847.864.7741
Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer’s retirement gives President Joe Biden a chance to make his first nomination to the high court. It’s also a chance for Biden to fulfill a campaign promise to nominate the first Black woman to be a justice. Some things to know about the women seen as leading candidates: KETANJI BROWN JACKSON Ketanji Brown Jackson has known Breyer for decades. A graduate of Harvard and Harvard Law school, she was a law clerk to Breyer from 1999 to 2000. She is comfortable enough with her former boss to have a little fun at his expense. In 2017, after Breyer accidentally brought his cellphone to courtand it rang, Jackson introduced him at an event and pretended to get a call mid-introduction from Breyer’s colleague, Justice Neil Gorsuch.
After clerking for Breyer, Jackson was as a lawyer in private practice, worked as a public defender and served on the U.S. Sentencing Commission. President Barack Obama nominated her to be a federal trial court judge in the District of Columbia in 2013. Biden elevated her to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, where she has served since June 2021. Recently, Jackson was part of a three-judge panel that ruled against former President Donald Trump’s effort to shield documents from the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol. Jackson, 51, also has the advantage of a connection to Republicans. She is related by marriage to former House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis. Jackson’s husband, Dr. Patrick Jackson, a surgeon, is the twin brother of Ryan’s brother-in-law. The judge and her husband have two daughters. ___ LEONDRA KRUGER Leondra Kruger would be the first person in more than 40 years to move from a state court to the Supreme Court if she were to be chosen and confirmed as Biden’s nominee. The last was Sandra Day O’Connor, a barrier-breaker who was the court’s first female justice. During his 1980 presidential campaign, Ronald Reagan had promised to put a woman on the Supreme Court. He fulfilled that commitment in his first year in office when he elevated O’Connor from a state appeals court in Arizona. Kruger, 45, has been on the California Supreme Court since 2015. She was just 38 when chosen for the job by then-Gov. Jerry Brown. She’s seen as a moderate on the seven-member court. Kruger grew up in Los Angeles. She is the daughter of a Jamaican mother and Jewish father; both are pediatricians. She attended Harvard before getting her law degree from Yale. Like Jackson, she was a law clerk to a Supreme Court justice — John Paul Stevens. Before moving back to California, Kruger worked for the Department of Justice. She argued a dozen cases before the Supreme Court on behalf of the federal government, including one involving religious schools’ ability to fire teachers. Kruger is the first California Supreme Court justice to have a baby while serving on the court. She and her husband have two children. ___ J. MICHELLE CHILDS J. Michelle Childs’ resume doesn’t include a law degree from Harvard or Yale or service on a federal appeals court, common characteristics of the current justices. But she has a powerful backer who has Biden’s ear: Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C. Clyburn and Biden are longtime friends. Clyburn’s pivotal endorsement of Biden before South Carolina’s Democratic presidential primary in February 2020 is seen as critical in Biden’s path to the nomination. On Thursday, he said Childs’ deep legal experience gives her the “ability to empathize” with the Americans whose cases are considered. “Judge Childs has everything I think it takes to be a great justice,” Clyburn said. “We’ve got to recognize that people come from all walks of life, and we ought not dismiss anyone because of that.” Childs, 55, is a graduate of the University of South Carolina School of Law. She has a master’s degree from the school as well as a different legal degree from Duke. She was previously a state court judge and has served as a federal trial court judge since 2010. In 2014, before the Supreme Court ruled that gay couples had a right to marry nationwide, she ruled in favor of a gay couple seeking to have their District of Columbia marriage recognized in South Carolina. Biden nominated her in December to be a federal appeals court judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, but senators have yet to act. Among the current justices, only Justice Elena Kagan wasn’t a federal appeals court judge before joining. House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, one of Biden’s top congressional allies, said that South Carolina Judge J. Michelle Childs’ vast experience – to include her non-Ivy League degrees, an uncommon occurrence on the nation’s highest court – gives her the “ability to empathize” with the Americans whose cases are considered. “Judge Childs has everything I think it takes to be a great justice,” he said. “We’ve got to recognize that people come from all walks of life, and we ought not dismiss anyone because of that.” ___ SHERRILYN IFILL If Biden decided to go outside the judiciary, the choice could be NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund head Sherrilyn Ifill, 59. She is a deeply respected civil rights lawyer who has held the post since 2013. Ifill, who has announced she will step down in the spring, is the second woman to lead the organization. Ifill started her career at the American Civil Liberties Union, then worked on voting rights legislation at the legal defense fund before she joined the faculty at University of Maryland School of Law, where she taught for more than 20 years. Ifill graduated from Vassar College and earned her law degree from New York University School of Law in 1987. She was among the group of lawyers named to study the Supreme Court by Biden in 2021. She’s a prolific author and writer, and in February of last year wrote an opinion column in The New York Times on how the legal profession must reckon with the fact that lawyers helped President Donald Trump by enabling him to effort “the most dangerous assault on American democracy in more than a century,” through his meritless lawsuits challenging the election, efforts to install a sympathetic attorney general who would help him, and by the growing movement in Congress to adopt Trump’s election lies. ___ MELISSA MURRAY Another potential candidate outside the judiciary, Murray, 45, is a New York University Law professor. She is a graduate of the University of Virginia and Yale Law School. She clerked for Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who was then at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. At NYU, Murray teaches family law and reproductive rights and justice, as well as constitutional law. Her research focuses on marriage equality, reproductive rights and the laws around sex and sexuality. She previously taught at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law. Aside from her substantial law journal work, she’s written for the San Francisco Chronicle, Vanity Fair and The New York Times. In December, Murray wrote an opinion essay for the Times about Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s role as both a mother and conservative as the high court considered the most serious challenge in a generation to Roe v. Wade, the landmark abortion rights case. “Whether fairly or not, Justice Barrett’s gender has always loomed large in speculation about her impact on the court’s abortion jurisprudence,” Murray wrote. “Although she did not explicitly invoke her identity as a woman, she seemed to lean into her identity as an adoptive mother — and in fact, the only mother on the court — to question the underpinnings of Roe.” ___ HOLLY THOMAS Holly Thomas, 43, was just confirmed to the largest federal appeals court last week, the San Francisco-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. She is the second Black woman ever to sit on the court. Thomas is a graduate of Stanford University and Yale Law School. She had been in the Family Law Division of the Los Angeles Superior Court since 2018, and before that she was the deputy director of executive programs at the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing. She has also worked at the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, and was as an appellate attorney in the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. She overcame a party-line vote deadlock in the Senate Judiciary Committee, requiring an additional floor vote to move her forward after Republicans questioned her ability to separate her prior advocacy for progressive issues from her work as a judge. During her time in the New York Solicitor General’s office, she filed briefs advocating for policies that allowed transgender people to use the bathrooms that correspond to their gender identity. At her confirmation hearings, she said she was more than able to set aside her work in order to fairly serve as a judge. ___ EUNICE LEE Eunice Lee, 51, was named to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit in August, the first former federal defender to serve on the court. Her appointment was lauded as a recognition of the need to broaden the judiciary’s legal expertise, particularly because defense lawyers are not a common choice for such posts. Lee graduated from Ohio State University and Yale Law School. She then clerked for U.S. District Court Judge Susan J. Dlott, and later for Judge Eric Clay on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit. She spent time from 1998 to 2019 at the office of the appellate defender in New York City and also taught clinical law at New York University Law School. Biden’s already interviewed her once – he spoke with her directly for her appeals court position. ___ CANDACE JACKSON-AKIWUMI Biden has also spoken with Jackson-Akiwumi, 43. She comes from a defense attorney background, having worked in the federal defender program in the Northern District of Illinois since 2010. She was confirmed to U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in June on a bipartisan vote. Jackson-Akiwumi attended Princeton University and then Yale Law School. She began her legal career as a law clerk to U.S. District Court Judge David Coar, then worked as a clerk on the Fourth Circuit appeals court. ___ WILHELMINA WRIGHT Biden is also looking at Minnesota U.S. District Court Judge Wilhelmina Wright, 58, the only jurist in Minnesota’s history to serve in the state district court, appellate court and state Supreme Court. She was sworn in six years ago to the federal bench, making history as the state’s first Black female federal judge. At the time, 14 Republicans voted for her. A graduate of Yale University and Harvard Law School, she first clerked for Judge Damon Keith on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. She went into private practice in education law, representing school districts that sought to better educate public school children. She was a federal prosecutor in Minnesota for about five years before she was first named a Minnesota state judge. She became a federal judge in 2015.
