Biden declines to nominate conservative Western Kentucky attorney for federal judgeship
President Joe Biden will not nominate conservative Western Kentucky attorney Chad Meredith for a federal judicial post, the White House said Friday.
“In considering potential District Court nominees, the White House learned that Senator Rand Paul will not return a blue slip on Chad Meredith. Therefore, the White House will not nominate Mr. Meredith,” White House spokesman Andrew Bates said in a statement.
Word spread a few weeks ago that Biden planned to nominate Meredith for the U.S. district judge’s position for the Eastern District of Kentucky that would be created by Judge Karen Caldwell’s decision to take senior status.
Paul’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Sen. Mitch McConnell told the New York Times in an interview published Friday evening that he had asked Biden to nominate Meredith as a “personal favor” and said Paul’s position on the nomination was “utterly pointless.”
“The net result of this is it has prevented me from getting my kind of judge out of a liberal Democratic president,” he was quoted as saying.
McConnell reportedly told the newspaper that he had not offered anything to Biden in exchange for the nomination and said that Biden’s agreement to it would have represented “a personal friendship gesture.”
Meredith’s potential nomination had roiled Democrats including Gov. Andy Beshear, who called the potential nomination “indefensible,” in light of his possible involvement in a series of pardons granted by former Gov. Matt Bevin.
McConnell said in the New York Times interview that an FBI background check conducted as part of the nomination process showed that Meredith “had nothing to do with” the pardons.
Meredith is a native of Leitchfield and a graduate of the University of Kentucky College of Law who has clerked for a district and circuit judge and is a member of the Federalist Society. His father is state Sen. Stephen Meredith, R-Leitchfield.
This story was originally published July 15, 2022 at 7:34 PM.
