President Donald Trump intends to nominate former Kentucky Solicitor General Chad Meredith to a district court judgeship in the state, three years after a deal fell apart to nominate him to the same court.
Meredith, who served as solicitor general from 2019 to 2021 and previously as chief deputy general counsel to the state’s governor, would serve on the US District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky, Trump announced Wednesday in a social media post. Meredith is currently a partner with Squire Patton Boggs.
President Joe Biden had angered progressives in 2022 with plans to nominate Meredith, an anti-abortion Republican, shortly after the US Supreme Court’s decision overturning constitutional abortion rights.
At the time, then Rep. John Yarmuth (D-Ky.) said Biden appeared to be trying to make a deal with then Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to ease the path for other federal nominations. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D) criticized Meredith’s potential nomination as “indefensible” given his involvement in controversial pardons by former Gov. Matt Bevin (R).
The deal to nominate Meredith was blocked by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) who said McConnell hadn’t consulted him early enough.
In a statement Wednesday, McConnell said, “Chad Meredith is a bright lawyer with a stellar resume and a distinguished record of public service.”
Meredith clerked for Judge Amul Thapar in the Eastern District of Kentucky before his elevation to the Sixth Circuit, as well as Sixth Circuit Judge John Rogers.
He graduated from the University of Kentucky College of Law in 2007.
(Updated with additional reporting throughout. The story originally published June 18.)
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