Biden backs anti-abortion Republican for Kentucky judgeship in apparent McConnell deal
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — President Joe Biden is poised to nominate a conservative Republican anti-abortion lawyer for a lifetime appointment as a federal judge in Kentucky, a nomination strongly opposed by fellow Democrat and U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth, D-Louisville.
The nomination of Chad Meredith appears to be the result of a deal with U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, ostensibly in exchange for the Senate Minority Leader agreeing not to hold up future federal nominations by the Biden White House, according to Yarmuth and other officials who confirmed the pending nomination to The Courier Journal.
More: Kentucky abortion clinics to reopen after judge grants temporary order
Robert Steurer, a spokesman for McConnell, said he would have no comment until Biden makes his nomination.
But Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, a Democrat, fully confirmed The Courier Journal’s reporting at his Friday afternoon press conference, saying his team was informed last week that Biden intended to nominate Meredith to the position — which he strongly opposes.
Beshear said it his understanding that Biden has not yet submitted the nomination, “which I hope means in the very least it's on pause.”
“If the president makes that nomination, it is indefensible.”
Meredith declined to respond to a request for comment.
The White House also wouldn't confirm, saying "we do not comment on vacancies.
Meredith is a Federalist Society member who served as deputy counsel to former Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin and more recently solicitor general for Attorney General Daniel Cameron. Cameron is now a candidate for the Republican nomination for governor in 2023.
Biden's surprising nomination comes even as he has fiercely defended women's right to abortion, which the U.S. Supreme Court struck down last Friday when it overturned Roe v. Wade.
EARLIER: Abortion ends in Kentucky as Supreme Court strikes down Roe v. Wade due to trigger law
Yarmuth told The Courier Journal in a statement Wednesday he vehemently opposes the nomination and the apparent deal Biden struck with McConnell.
"Given that a judicial position isn’t currently open on the Eastern District Court, it’s clear that this is part of some larger deal on judicial nominations between the president and Mitch McConnell," Yarmuth stated.
"I strongly oppose this deal and Meredith being nominated for the position. The last thing we need is another extremist on the bench."
There are no current vacancies for federal judgeships in Kentucky's Eastern District, so the nomination of Meredith would have to coincide with a sitting judge announcing they are stepping down, retiring or moving to senior status.
Eastern District Judge Danny C. Reeves is eligible for senior status when he turns 65 years old on August 1, while Judge Karen Caldwell is already eligible.
More: What to know about Kentucky abortion services after the trigger law ban was suspended
A woman who answered the phone in Reeves' office Thursday morning declined to say if Reeves is taking senior status in August, adding "we don't really give out information to the media" and refusing to leave the judge a message.
Meredith defended a 2017 Kentucky abortion law requiring doctors who perform abortions to first perform an ultrasound and describe the image to the patient.
He lost at a trial in federal court but the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals later upheld the statute.
As the top appellate lawyer for Cameron, Meredith also successfully defended a state law in the Kentucky Supreme Court that strippedGov. Beshear of his emergency power to implement COVID-19 restrictions.
Nominee helped with controversial Matt Bevin pardons
The Courier Journal reported in 2020 that Meredith was one of the staff attorneys involved in Bevin's controversial pardons and commutations at the end of his term in 2019.
Bevin administration documents showed Meredith was one of Bevin's general counsel staff to give recommendations to the governor on whether certain applicants deserve clemency.
Matt Bevin: Catching up on the Matt Bevin pardons controversy? Here's how it all went down
One spreadsheet of clemency applicants from those records showed "Chad working" written next to the name of Patrick Baker — one of the most controversial pardon recipients, who was convicted of killing a man in a robbery and whose family hosted a fundraiser for Bevin at his home.
Meredith’s personal lawyer, Brandon Marshall, said after The Courier Journal reported Meredith’s apparent role that he had "no meaningful involvement with any of the most controversial pardons about which the media has made much.”
Meredith, who was then being vetted for a federal judgeship in 2020 by President Donald Trump’s administration, was later dropped from consideration for that position.
University of Richmond law professor Carl Tobias, who studies judicial appointments, said the Meredith nomination “does seem odd.”
But Tobias said the White House may have decided it was worth it after seeing how McConnell had recently blocked the potential nomination of two potential U.S. attorneys and sought to minimize opposition from McConnell to those and future judicial vacancies during the balance of Biden’s presidency.
Two other officials familiar with the nomination said that was part of the deal.
Tobias also noted that Meredith served as a law clerk to a federal district and appeals court judge and has the credentials that would support his own nomination.
Luke Milligan, a professor at the University of Louisville’s Brandeis School of Law, who has defended the appointment of other Kentucky conservatives to the bench, said in an email Meredith is “an excellent litigator and he’ll make a terrific federal judge — he’s smart, hardworking, principled, and fair.”
The Kentucky Right to Life Association also has said it has been “very impressed” with his abilities in defending “pro-life laws passed by our general assembly."
A member of the Federalist Society
Meredith better fits the profile of nominees of recent Republican presidents rather than Democrats.
He is a longtime member of the Federalist Society, from which President Donald Trump drew nominees for the Supreme Court and other judgeships.
A native of Leitchfield, Kentucky, Meredith graduated from Washington and Lee University and from the University of Kentucky College of Law, where he was a recipient of the Bert Combs Scholarship.
"Meredith clerked for Judge John M. Rogers on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, then for Judge Amul R. Thapar on the district court for the Eastern District of Kentucky.
Following his clerkships, Meredith practiced as a litigator with Frost Brown Todd in Louisville before Ransdell & Roach of Lexington.
In January, he was hired by Squire Patton Boggs as “of counsel.”
Andrew Wolfson: 502-582-7189; awolfson@courier-journal.com; Twitter: @adwolfson.