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President Biden planned to nominate a conservative opponent of abortion rights as a federal judge in Kentucky for life, according to newly released emails, prompting criticism of the White House from some fellow Democrats.
After facing Democratic opposition in Kentucky, the White House did not offer the name of former state attorney general Chad Meredith as a candidate. A round of federal judge nominations released last week did not include Meredith. It was unclear Wednesday whether the White House would ever move forward with nominating him.
But the episode underscored the fiery reactions of Democrats after the Supreme Court was ousted Roe v. Wade. Democrats sometimes direct some of their anger at the White House.
On June 23, White House staffer Kate Marshall sent an email to Coulter Minnix, director of Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear’s office in Washington. “To be nominated tomorrow,” the message read, followed by the qualifications and experience of Meredith, whom the Biden administration planned to nominate to judge in the Eastern District of Kentucky the next day.
The email released Wednesday was titled “close hold,” meaning information that should not be widely distributed. Minix said it would “share the information and appreciate the warning.”
The Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade the next day, rocking the country and igniting demands that Democratic elected leaders do everything they can to protect abortion access. An email that followed a few days later included what appeared to be an attempt to limit potential fallout.
“I regret not including this in the original email,” wrote Marshall, a former Nevada lieutenant governor who joined the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs in August. “But I wanted to make it clear that the email I sent is pre-decisional information and is privileged. Please let me know if you have any questions. Thank you. Kate.
The governor’s office initially told news outlets that the exchange between Marshall and Minix was conditional and could not be released. It was eventually obtained Wednesday by The Washington Post and other news organizations following a public records request. The office of Bescher, a Democrat, declined to comment Wednesday, referring reporters to statements he made at a news conference.
The revelations drew criticism from a president who has vowed to do everything in his power to protect abortion rights — and urged angry voters to voice their anger by voting for fellow Democrats in the midterm elections.
They also raised tensions between the White House and elected representatives of the Kentucky Democratic Party, including Congressman John Yarmuth and Beshear, who both confirmed and criticized the administration’s intention to nominate Meredith.
“If the president makes this nomination, it’s indefensible,” Bescher said at a news conference last Thursday. He pointed to Meredith’s role in a series of controversial pardons at the end of Republican Matt Bevin’s governorship, including one for a man convicted of raping a child. Bescher called Meredith “a man who has aided and abetted the most flagrant abuse of power by a governor in my lifetime.”
Yarm issued a recent statement accusing Biden and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) of reaching a pre-deal for Meredith.
“Given that there is currently no judicial position open on the Eastern District Court, it is clear that this is part of some larger judicial nomination deal between the president and Mitch McConnell,” Yarmuth said in a statement. “I strongly oppose this deal and Meredith being nominated for the position. The last thing we need is another extremist on the bench.
Scott Sluffman, a spokesman for McConnell, denied there was any such arrangement. “Discussions regarding Judge Caldwell’s seat involve only who should fill Judge Caldwell’s seat,” Sluffman said in a statement, referring to the vacancy that was eventually publicly disclosed.
Both the White House and the Kentucky governor’s office declined to comment on the conversations and decisions related to Meredith.
The new details add to the condemnation the White House has received since the Supreme Court overturned a constitutional right to abortion established in Rowe. Many abortion rights advocates said Biden responded to the ruling with insufficient force, heightening concerns about his handling of other issues and widening fissures in a political party facing difficult headwinds ahead of the November election.
The White House has tried to avoid questions about what Biden’s desire, if any, is for Meredith to serve on the federal bench. When asked about it Wednesday on Air Force One, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre deflected.
“So we don’t… we… make it a point not to comment on any… any vacancy, whether it’s in the executive or the judiciary, especially those that aren’t… aren’t.. . . the nomination hasn’t been made yet,” she told reporters. “So I have nothing to say about it. That’s something we just don’t comment on.”
She also did not say whether the administration has a rule against appointing judges who oppose abortion.
Critics assailed the White House for not having a better plan to protect reproductive rights — or other privacy rights that could be affected by the decision — especially because a draft opinion leaked weeks before the official decision.
A consortium of abortion rights groups expressed their anger at the administration, saying the appointment of conservative judges to the federal bench paved the way for Roe v. Wade to be cancelled.
“We are in a national abortion crisis,” said a statement from groups including NARAL Pro-Choice America and the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. “We’re in this moment because anti-abortion judges have been deliberately nominated at every level to take away our basic right to abortion — and given his record, we know Chad Meredith would be no exception.”
The White House said it had convened meetings with stakeholders to form a plan to combat the results of the Supreme Court decision. Among other measures, the administration said it would seek to protect access to mifepristone, an abortion pill that can be prescribed through a telehealth visit and delivered by mail, bypassing some state restrictions. Biden said he would also protect women who travel across state lines seeking an abortion.
During five decades in political office, Biden has been openly conflicted on abortion, at times struggling to balance views shaped by his Catholic faith with those of his political party.
For most of his career, he supported abortion rights but opposed federal funding for the procedure, including in some cases of rape and incest. And he was among the few Democrats in 1982 who voted for a constitutional amendment that would have allowed states to circumvent Roe v. Wade and limiting abortion.
After Roe v. Wade was overturned, he said the rights taken away by the court threatened other freedoms and tried to make the fight for reproductive rights a midterm campaign issue.
“This fall, we must elect more senators and representatives who will re-codify a woman’s right to choose in federal law, elect more state leaders to protect that right at the local level,” he said from the White House two hours after the Supreme Court decision to the court. “We need to restore the protection of Rowe as the law of the land. We must elect officials to do so. This fall, Rowe is on the ballot. Personal liberties are on the ballot. The right to privacy, liberty, equality, they are all on the ballot.
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