'It's been plenty of time.' Kentucky governor urges Biden to rescind anti-abortion GOP judge pick

[lapucelle]

16. It has been reported that McConnell made a deal with a retirement age federal judge (Caldwell)

who agreed to vacate the seat if she were allowed to name her replacement (Meredith).

Under the arrangement, Meredith would take the seat currently occupied by Judge Karen Kaye Caldwell, a George W. Bush nominee. Caldwell submitted her move to senior status on June 22, which, once complete, will allow Meredith to take the seat. A lawyer with connections to the Kentucky governor’s office who is familiar with the agreement told Slate that Caldwell conditioned her move upon the confirmation a successor—specifically, the conservative Meredith.

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/07/biden-mcconnell-chad-meredith-abortion-kentucky-judge.html

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

According to an unnamed "source in Kentucky"

Beshear and Yarmuth were especially frustrated because they had intended to submit potential nominees as soon as vacancy arose on the court. The White House was aware of this plan, but did not inform them that Caldwell planned to take senior status. As a result, Beshear and Yarmuth had no opportunity to make recommendations. Instead, the Biden administration coordinated with McConnell to tee up Meredith’s nomination once Caldwell announced her intent to leave the seat.

According to Slate’s source in Kentucky, McConnell agreed, in exchange, to stop blocking Democrats’ preferred nominees for U.S. Attorney in the state. McConnell has sought to place his own allies in these positions—including prosecutor Thomas B. Wine, who as the Jefferson County Commonwealth’s Attorney refused to charge the police officers who killed Breonna Taylor.

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/07/biden-mcconnell-chad-meredith-abortion-kentucky-judge.html

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Had any of this reached the Judiciary Committee?

What is a Blue Slip?

The Constitution requires the President to seek both the “advice and consent” of the Senate in appointing judges to lifetime positions on Federal courts. A blue slip is a piece of paper that the Senate Judiciary Committee uses to solicit views of home state senators after a person is nominated to be a Federal judge in their state. It gives meaning to the “advice” prong of the Senate’s constitutional role. The return of a blue slip usually signifies to the Committee that the President received the advice of the home state senator before the nomination was made. A returned blue slip does not necessarily mean that the home state senators will vote to confirm the nominee. However, it does indicate that the senators elected to represent that state were consulted prior to nomination and that the nominee is likely to be confirmed.

https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/nominations/blueslip

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This entire story is a mess that has been pieced together from various sources and relies, at least in part, on informed speculation.

The end result is that neither Judge Caldwell nor Mitch McConnell is ever getting this particular handpicked nominee. All their machinations were for naught.