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Anti-Abortion Attorney Chad Meredith’s Nomination for a Lifetime Position in Our Federal Judiciary Has Risen From the Dead
Well, folks, hold onto your hats because it seems like the zombie of judicial nominees, Chad Meredith, has crawled out of his cave and back into the spotlight. After rumors of a potential nomination by the Biden administration were snuffed out back in 2022, this guy has somehow found his way back into consideration for a lifetime position as a federal district court judge in Kentucky, courtesy of The Nightmare in Chief, Donald Trump. It’s like a bad horror movie – just when you think it’s over, the villain returns for the sequel. Because surely we need more Federalist Society zealots and ideological extremists plaguing our federal court systems, right? Reproductive rights, health, and justice organizations are united in our opposition to Chad Meredith being confirmed for a lifetime position in the federal judiciary.
Let’s take a moment to review Michael Myers’s Chad Meredith’s questionable career. As Solicitor General of Kentucky and Chief Deputy General Counsel to former Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin, Chad Meredith defended laws and regulations aimed at restricting abortion access, shaming abortion patients, attacking the right of patients to make decisions about their own bodies, and generally terrorizing Kentuckians seeking non-discriminatory health care.
Like a true anti-abortion extremist, Meredith went beyond the call of his duty to defend these discriminatory laws by spreading dangerous dogma, anti-abortion misinformation, and arguing that people seeking abortion are somehow ignorant of the nature of their own health care decisions:
He defended a deeply intrusive law requiring Kentucky abortion providers to perform pre-abortion ultrasounds, provide a detailed description of an ultrasound image to the patient, and play audio of the fetal heartbeat, regardless of whether providers believed it would harm the patient or was against the patient’s wishes. After it was struck down by a lower court for appearing to “inflict psychological harm on abortion patients” when “they are most vulnerable,” Meredith argued that that the law was justified because “there are a number of patients who don’t understand the nature of the fetus within them.” Setting aside the blatant paternalism and condescension towards pregnant people of that patronizing argument, mandatory pre-abortion ultrasound laws are medically unnecessary and are only meant to shame and judge patients. Requiring providers to describe the ultrasound image to the patient is a diabolical act of shaming patients for their personal medical decisions, yet Meredith essentially argued that it was for their own good.
Meredith’s arguments show a chilling disregard for the autonomy of pregnant patients and their capacity to make informed decisions about their own care, and an impudent and frankly arrogant view of the significance of the doctor-patient relationship. This guy has got to go.
Meredith also defended Governor Bevin’s attacks on the last two remaining abortion clinics in Kentucky, which Bevin sought to close down by denying and seeking to revoke their licenses to operate. Instead of merely defending these restrictions, Meredith again went above and beyond to push his anti-abortion agenda by arguing that the impact of clinic closures would be “essentially none” as the furthest patients would need to travel is only 150 miles to an abortion clinic in a bordering state. Meredith’s argument demonstrates a complete ignorance of how legal arguments and decisions impact the lives of real people. So it should come as no surprise that in response to Meredith’s callous indifference to the health and safety of Kentuckians, the Kentucky Right to Life Association said it was “very impressed” with Meredith’s abilities to defend these dangerous restrictions.
Additionally, Meredith’s record reflects an ideological extremism and hostility towards voting rights, workers’ rights to union protections, LGBTQIA+ equality, environmental protections, and public health protocols in the midst of a global pandemic. Chad Meredith’s record makes clear that he is a right-wing ideologue and not a fair-minded lawyer. As a judge, he cannot be trusted to hear cases in an unbiased way.
We cannot afford to have someone with such an atrocious record towards civil rights and protections confirmed to a lifetime position in our federal judiciary.
Let’s not kid ourselves; those who are pushing for Meredith’s lifetime appointment want a jurist who will toe the ideological line with the likes of Justices Thomas, Alito, and Gorsuch. Because that is all that Trump and his cronies care about: confirming more judges who rubber stamp dangerous policies without a shred of judicial temperament, impartiality, or evenhanded application of the law. For these reasons, and so many more, NWLC opposes the confirmation of Chad Meredith for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky.
With Meredith–a card-carrying member of the anti-abortion supervillain club–on the bench, we’d be looking at a future where reproductive rights are further trampled, and the most vulnerable among us are left without a voice. The people of Kentucky deserve better. We can’t let Meredith sneak back into a position of power, especially in a lifetime role. It’s time to shine a light on this ideological extremist and ensure that the only place he’s scurrying to is back into the shadows.
