President
Joe Biden struck a deal with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to
nominate Chad Meredith, a Republican anti-abortion advocate, to a
federal judgeship on the Eastern District of Kentucky, Slate has
confirmed. Under the arrangement, Meredith would take the seat currently
occupied by Judge Karen Kaye Caldwell, a George W. Bush nominee.
Caldwell submitted her move
to senior status on June 22, which, once complete, will allow Meredith
to take the seat. A lawyer with connections to the Kentucky governor’s
office who is familiar with the agreement told Slate that Caldwell
conditioned her move upon the confirmation a successor—specifically, the
conservative Meredith. In exchange, McConnell will allow Biden to
nominate and confirm two U.S. Attorneys to Kentucky.
The deal has prompted fury from Democrats since it was first reported by the Louisville Courier Journal’s Andrew Wolfson and Joe Sonka on Wednesday. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, a Democrat, confirmed
the planned nomination at a Thursday press conference. Democratic Rep.
John Yarmuth also confirmed the White House’s intent to nominate
Meredith in an interview with Slate on Friday. Yarmuth described the
agreement as “indefensible” and said he wrote “the strongest text
message I have ever written to anybody” to a contact at the White House
expressing his “outrage.”
Beshear
and Yarmuth were especially frustrated because they had intended to
submit potential nominees as soon as vacancy arose on the court. The
White House was aware of this plan, but did not inform them that
Caldwell planned to take senior status. As a result, Beshear and Yarmuth
had no opportunity to make recommendations. Instead, the Biden
administration coordinated with McConnell to tee up Meredith’s
nomination once Caldwell announced her intent to leave the seat.
According to Slate’s source in Kentucky, McConnell agreed, in exchange,
to stop blocking Democrats’ preferred nominees for U.S. Attorney in the
state. McConnell has sought to place his own allies
in these positions—including prosecutor Thomas B. Wine, who as the
Jefferson County Commonwealth’s Attorney refused to charge the police
officers who killed Breonna Taylor.
“I
understand how brutally manipulative Mitch is,” Yarmuth told Slate,
“but at some point you have to stand up to him. You have to just
confront him and say, ‘no, we’re not gonna appoint your people. We’re
not gonna let Mitch McConnell appoint judges and other federal officials
in a Democratic administration.’”
