WASHINGTON — The White House is dropping plans to nominate a Kentucky attorney who opposes abortion rights and backs Senator Mitch McConnell to federal court, citing opposition from Senator Rand Paul, Mr. McConnell in the home state.
The opposition from McConnell’s fellow Republican marked a new twist on a potential nomination that had sparked outrage on the left. Democrats were outraged that President Biden’s team had agreed to promote a conservative elected by Mr. McConnell to fill a vacancy on a district court, as the party increasingly focuses on countering new abortion restrictions.
The prospective candidate, Chad Meredith, had successfully defended Kentucky’s anti-abortion law as a state attorney. Mr. Biden’s plan to nominate him was made public by the Louisville Courier-Journal just before the Supreme Court overturned the Roe v. Wade precedent that set abortion rights.
Mr. McConnell, the minority leader who has a strong interest in shaping the federal judiciary, said the White House intended to honor its promise to nominate Mr. Meredith until Mr. Paul objected. . Mr. Paul informed the White House that he would not return a “blue strip” agreeing to appoint Mr. Meredith, who now has a private practice.
The blue slip tradition followed by the Senate Committee basically gives home state senators veto power over the selection of federal district court judges for their states.
“In considering potential district court nominees, the White House has learned that Senator Rand Paul will not return a blueprint on Chad Meredith,” White House spokesman Andrew Bates said in a statement Friday. “That’s why the White House will not nominate Mr. Meredith.”
The outcome has frustrated Mr. McConnell and baffled some Democrats. It drew the curtain on a seldom-discussed back channel of communication that still exists between Mr. McConnell and Mr. Biden, who were once negotiating partners in the Senate but have had little to do with each other recently as the Kentucky Republican works on the sink the Democratic president’s agenda.
Yet said Mr. McConnell said he had persuaded the White House to do him a “personal favor” by benching a young conservative, but was thwarted by a Republican colleague.
“The net result of this is that it has prevented me from getting my kind of judge out of a liberal Democratic president,” Mr. McConnell said in an interview, calling Mr. Paul’s position “just completely pointless.”
Meredith, a member of the conservative Federalist Society, is said to have replaced Judge Karen Caldwell, 66, an appointee of President George W. Bush, in 2001. her to reduce her workload while also creating a White House vacancy. She did not give a specific date for her departure, which could depend on who is chosen to replace her.
Read more about the end of Roe v. Wade
Mr. Paul’s office did not respond to requests for comment on the disclosure from Mr. McConnell and the White House.
But the Democrats had made it clear that they were not happy with Meredith’s potential nomination and wondered aloud why Biden would have agreed to name an anti-abortion rights person, and what he would have gotten from Republicans in return. .
“I said, what’s in it for us?” Senator Richard J. Durbin, the Illinois Democrat who chairs the Judiciary Committee, told reporters this week how he urged the White House to appoint the Kentucky court. “They didn’t give me a specific answer.”
Mr. McConnell said he made no promise to the White House to do anything in exchange for Mr. Biden’s acceptance of his recommendation, an appeal he made through Ron Klain, the chief of staff.
“There was no deal,” said Mr. McConnell, adding that Mr. Biden’s consideration represented the kind of “collegiality” and once-routine collaboration with home state judges that has waned in recent years. “This was a personal friendship gesture.”
Democrats had wondered why Biden would nominate a candidate with McConnell’s backing, given that the Republican leader blocked the Supreme Court’s election of Barack Obama in 2016 and was a major impediment to the president’s agenda.
New details of the White House’s settlement with Mr. McConnell also came as internal Democratic negotiations on a key tax and energy policy move failed over objections from West Virginia Democrat Senator Joe Manchin III. Republicans, who unanimously opposed the measure in the Senate, celebrated.
In Kentucky, Governor Andy Beshear, a Democrat, called the pending nomination “indefensible” and urged the White House to drop the idea. Representative John Yarmuth, Democrat of Kentucky, was also outraged. With Mr Biden in the White House, Democrats assumed that they – not their nemesis, Mr McConnell – would be consulted on their home state’s nominations.
Mr. Beshear also pointed to Mr. Meredith’s possible connection to a pardon issued by former Governor Matt Bevin that has come under intense scrutiny, saying any role in that pardon would be disqualification. But mr. McConnell noted that Mr. Meredith cleared an FBI background check done in preparation for the nomination.
“The FBI check confirmed he had nothing to do with it,” McConnell said of the pardon.
The blockade of Mr. Meredith has also disappointed his allies in Kentucky.
“He’s one of the most ethical people I’ve met in recent years when it comes to seeing him in the spotlight,” said April Wimberg, the president of the Louisville branch of the Federalist Society. “I was very surprised that anyone, especially Senator Paul, would have any opposition to him.”
Had it gone through, Mr. Meredith’s nomination would have been a significant departure from the background of court nominees sent to the Senate by the White House in the early years of administration. Unlike the corporate lawyers and prosecutors traditionally favored by presidents of both parties, the Biden White House has focused on bringing to the fore minorities historically underrepresented on the bench, as well as public defenders and attorneys with experience. in civil rights law.
Mr. McConnell noted that in their discussions, Mr. Klain admitted that Mr. Meredith was “certainly not the kind of person we would normally nominate,” but the senator argued that the move simply traded the one Republican-backed judge. for another.
“It’s not giving away a seat,” said Mr McConnell, who said he never discussed the potential nomination directly with Mr Biden. “He has bigger things on his plate than this.”
Mr McConnell raised the possibility that Mr Paul might have believed it was his turn to nominate a judicial candidate. But Mr. McConnell said the two Kentucky senators were not in agreement on such matters and that he doubted that Mr. Biden would have given Mr. Paul the same consideration anyway.
“The president would not have taken a recommendation from Rand Paul, I can assure you,” said Mr. McConnell, noting his long-standing personal relationship with Mr. Biden.
While it was initially thought that the president’s long tenure on Capitol Hill and his previous work with Mr. McConnell were great advantages, they didn’t turn out that way for Mr. Biden. Mr McConnell has been a persistent obstacle, threatening in recent days to try to block legislation designed to improve US competitiveness with China — a move Mr McConnell supported — if Mr Biden and Congressional Democrats continue to a partisan tax law.
Mr. McConnell and Mr. Paul have also split over the years over issues. Mr. McConnell originally supported his Republican opponent during the Senate’s first successful bid in 2010. But despite their adjournment from the judicial nomination, Mr. McConnell said he supported Mr. Paul’s reelection bid this year.
“Of course,” said Mr. McConnell, who hopes to remain party leader, especially if Republicans claim a majority in the Senate in November. “He will be there for the main vote.”