‘A secret deal.’ Rand Paul blames McConnell for botching judicial pick.

Sen. Rand Paul said Mitch McConnell is to blame for the unraveling of Chad Meredith’s planned nomination to be a federal district court judge.

“I support Chad Meredith and supported him when he was considered for a different position. I think he would make a good judge. Unfortunately, instead of communicating and lining up support for him, Senator McConnell chose to cut a secret deal with the White House that fell apart,” Paul said in a statement to McClatchyDC Monday evening.

Kentucky’s junior Republican senator told reporters on Monday that he did not sign off on Meredith because McConnell failed to consult with him on the selection.

“So we simply said that we’re not against Meredith, but McConnell is going to at least have to discuss it with his other state senator,” Paul said.

The White House announced on Friday it was backing off its plan to nominate Meredith, who has a history of opposing abortion rights, citing Paul’s refusal to return a “blue slip” on Meredith.

“Therefore, the White House will not nominate Mr. Meredith,” said White House spokesman Andrew Bates.

A “blue slip” refers to the color of paper the Senate uses to transmit judicial nominations. Customarily, the Senate Judiciary Committee would not take formal action on a nomination until home state senators return the slip, indicating they support the nomination.

President Biden received a torrent of backlash for going along with McConnell’s choice, due to Meredith’s anti-abortion record. The timing of the planned nomination – coming in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to eradicate Roe v. Wade – made it even more sensitive for Democrats.

While speculation flew that McConnell might have agreed to allow other judicial nominations to proceed in exchange for the Meredith selection, the Senate GOP leader denied that last week saying “there was no deal.”

But an agreement between Biden and McConnell on Meredith looked close to sealed, until Paul exercised his power as a home state senator.

It’s unclear if the White House would reconsider nominating Meredith.

In an interview with the New York Times on Friday, McConnell called Paul’s position “just 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 told the newspaper.

A spokesman for McConnell did not immediately respond to Paul’s comments.

But legal experts said they could not recall an instance in recent modern history where two senators from the same state and party clashing over a judicial nominee in such a public fashion.

“I can’t think of an instance right away… None comes to mind immediately,” said Russell Wheeler, a visiting fellow of governance studies at The Brookings Institute. “Usually they get together and they work out an agreement … Rand Paul is a sort of a singularly, very contrarian guy.”

Earlier this month, Judge Karen Caldwell appeared on a list of judges who would be taking senior status at a date to be determined, creating an opening to be filled.

This story was originally published July 18, 2022 at 7:41 PM with the headline "‘A secret deal.’ Rand Paul blames McConnell for botching judicial pick.."