The potential nominee, conservative attorney Chad Meredith, will serve a lifetime term on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky, although there is currently no judicial vacancy on the court.
Biden’s prospective nomination comes as the president vows to do everything in his power to fight for abortion rights following last week’s US Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade. With the removal of the federal constitutional right to abortion, states will have to determine abortion rights unless Congress decides.
Meredith previously served as deputy counsel to then-Republican Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin, defending a state law requiring abortion doctors to first perform an ultrasound and describe the image on the patient’s monitor.
In court in 2018, Meredith argued that the law would ensure that women are better informed about their decision because “not every patient understands the consequences of an abortion procedure.”
“This is right at the heart of what states are allowed to do to regulate medicine,” Meredith said at the time. “There are a number of patients who do not understand the nature of the fetus in them.”
A spokesman for Democratic Rep. John Yarmuth of Kentucky told CNN that the congressman “was informed of the White House’s intention to nominate Meredith by White House staff.” Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear said at a news conference Thursday that his team was informed of Biden’s intention to nominate Meredith “late last week.”
“My understanding right now is that it hasn’t shipped, which I hope at the very least means it’s on hiatus,” Bescher said.
Bescher had strong words for Biden, saying, “If the president makes this nomination, it’s indefensible.”
The governor also criticized Meredith’s involvement in Bevin’s decision to issue hundreds of pardons before he left office, which included pardons for various violent acts such as murder and rape. There were accusations from critics that some of the pardons were politically motivated, which Bevin denied at the time.
“I don’t know how the president can say it’s about public safety if he makes this nomination,” Bescher added.
Asked for comment, a White House official said: “As a matter of practice, we do not comment on executive or judicial vacancies.”
Yarmott told The Courier-Journal that he believes Meredith’s future nomination to a court where there is currently no vacancy “is part of some larger judicial nomination deal between the president and Mitch McConnell” — namely that got the Senate Minority Leader to agree to no longer hold up Biden’s future federal nominations.
CNN has reached out to Meredith and McConnell’s office for comment.
There are 118 current or anticipated vacancies in the lower courts. The Biden administration has named candidates for 34 of those vacancies so far.
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