Mere days after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade, eliminating the long-held constitutional right to abortion, President Biden has reportedly struck a handshake deal to nominate an anti-abortion lawyer to a lifetime federal judgeship in Kentucky.
As first reported by the Courier Journal, government officials including Kentucky Rep. John Yarmuth (D-Louisville) have confirmed that Biden will nominate Chad Meredith to a federal judge’s seat when one opens in the state.
Biden allegedly struck the deal with Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell in exchange for Republicans “agreeing not to hold up future federal nominations by the Biden White House,” according to the paper, a promise we’re definitely sure the GOP will honor this time. McConnell and Meredith’s offices both declined to comment, and a White House spokesperson said only that “we do not comment on vacancies.” (Yarmuth’s office said the White House had informed the representative of the president’s plan, as did current Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear.)
Meredith is the former deputy counsel to former Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin and solicitor general for Attorney General Daniel Cameron. He is a member of the right-wing lawyers’ group The Federalist Society, and was one of Gov. Bevin’s key legal weapons in advancing Republicans’ anti-abortion agenda in Kentucky, representing the state in defense of its notorious law requiring pregnant people to undergo an ultrasound and hear a description of the fetus before receiving an abortion. Meredith argued in court that patients “don’t understand the nature of the fetus within them” and that it was within the state’s right to impose such regulations. In 2019, he also defended Kentucky’s mandate that abortion clinics have written agreements with hospitals and ambulance services, a requirement abortion rights advocates said was a de facto ban on clinics in the state.
Meredith has also been implicated in a sprawling scandal over Gov. Bevin’s alleged misconduct in issuing pardons, including pardoning a convicted murderer whose family held a fundraiser for his gubernatorial campaign.
“I strongly oppose this deal and Meredith being nominated for the position,” said Rep. Yarmuth in a statement, adding that Meredith’s appointment may be part of a “larger deal” between the president and McConnell since no vacancy is currently open in the state. “That last thing [sic] we need is another extremist on the bench.” According to online political repository Ballotpedia, there are currently at least 73 vacant federal judgeships, any of which could be more immediate fodder for Biden and McConnel’s deal.
