The Hon. J. Michelle Childs, a judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, will deliver this year’s Linton R. Dunson Constitution Day Lecture. 

Judge Childs will present “The Constitution and the Rule of Law: Linchpins to the Preservation of Democracy” at 4 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 16, in Leonard Auditorium. This event is free and open to the public. 

“Appointment to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit is one of the most distinguished legal appointments in the U.S. judiciary. Judge Childs was also among the short list of candidates considered for the Supreme Court in 2022,” says Dr. David Alvis, associate professor of government and international affairs. “We are honored that she agreed to be our speaker for Constitution Day and believe that her presence on our campus complements the many contributions that Wofford has made over the years to the legal field.” 

Prior to her appointment to the D.C. Circuit in 2022, Childs served as a U.S. District Court judge and a state circuit court judge in South Carolina. Childs was also the deputy director for the South Carolina Department of Labor, Licensing, and Regulation’s Division of Labor, and a partner at Nexsen Pruet. 

Child’s lecture will be followed by a roundtable discussion at 4:30 p.m. with panelists who include: 

  • The Hon. Jacquelyn D. Austin, judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina.
  • The Hon. D. Garrison Hill, associate justice of the Supreme Court of South Carolina.
  • The Hon. J. Mark Hayes II ’80, judge of the South Carolina Circuit Court.
  • Simrin Channa ’26, an international affairs major from Boiling Springs, South Carolina. 

Wofford’s annual Constitution Day lecture series is named for Dr. Linton R. Dunson Jr., the founding chair of the college’s Department of Government. He served on Wofford’s faculty for 42 years (1966-2008). 

Past lecturers include the Hon. A. Marvin Quattlebaum Jr., judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit; William C. Hubbard, dean of the University of South Carolina School of Law; Akhil Amar, Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science at Yale University; and Dr. Gordon Wood, professor emeritus of history at Brown University; as well as former South Carolina Supreme Court Chief Justice Costa Pleicones ’65 and Senior Judge Dennis Shedd ’75 of the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals.