White House Privately Signaling It's Moving Forward With Anti-Abortion Court Pick [View all]

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https://www.huffpost.com/entry/chad-meredith-judicial-nominee-abortion-biden_n_62cc82d9e4b0451684664530?mt8

President Joe Biden is not backing off plans to nominate an anti-abortion attorney to a lifetime federal judgeship in Kentucky, despite strong opposition from Democrats and reproductive rights groups, according to a source recently briefed on the White House’s plans.

White House officials have refused to talk about Chad Meredith ever since the Louisville Courier-Journal reported late last month that he is the president’s pick for a soon-to-be vacant U.S. District Court seat in eastern Kentucky. The newspaper even provided copies of June 23 emails from the White House to Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D) confirming Biden’s plan to nominate Meredith, a member of the conservative Federalist Society who has fought abortion rights.

The White House initially told Beshear that Meredith would be nominated the next day, on June 24. But that turned out to be the day the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, and the nomination didn’t happen. Now it’s just crickets.

“I’m just not ― we just don’t comment on ― on vacancies, whether executive branch or judicial, in situations where we have not made a nomination,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Wednesday, when asked about Meredith. “We just have not made a nomination on this yet.”

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