President Joe Biden has vowed to do everything he can to fight for reproductive healthcare after the fall of Roe v. Wade, even calling on Thursday for a filibuster carve-out to protect abortion and other privacy rights. But a reported deal with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to appoint a conservative, anti-choice attorney to a federal court in Kentucky could contribute to doubts about the extent to which the administration grasps the severity of the situation — and its commitment to addressing it.
According to the Louisville Courier-Journal, Biden is planning to name Chad Meredith — a member of the Federalist Society who served as a deputy counsel to former Republican Governor Matt Bevins — to a lifetime federal court appointment as part of a deal with McConnell to get other White House nominees approved by the Senate. The White House did not comment on the reported agreement, saying it does not publicly discuss pending nominations or vacancies. But Kentucky Democrat John Yarmuth said Wednesday that the administration informed him of the coming move, which the Louisville congressman condemned. “I strongly oppose this deal and Meredith being nominated for the position,” Yarmuth said in a statement to the Courier-Journal. “The last thing we need is another extremist on the bench.”
“If the President makes that nomination, it is indefensible,” Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, a Democrat, told the outlet, expressing hope that the appointment had at least been put “on pause.”
The report of the agreement came as Democratic lawmakers and voters called for stronger action to protect Americans’ reproductive rights in the wake of Supreme Court conservatives’ decision striking down Roe and upholding Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case, a move Biden described as the “realization of an extreme ideology” and a “tragic error” by the right-wing justices.
“It just stuns me,” Biden said in an address following that 6-3 ruling. “This is a sad day for the country, in my view, but it doesn’t mean the fight is over.”
That fight is an uphill one, though. For years, Democrats have failed to show the same urgency in protecting abortion rights as Republicans have in seeking to strip them. Now, with states imposing draconian bans on the procedure in the wake of the Dobbs decision, national Democrats have limited options. The Biden administration is working on a slate of executive and agency actions to protect access to abortion medications and contraception and to help those in states where the procedure has been outlawed travel to other states for healthcare. On Thursday, Biden went further still, calling for the filibuster to be amended to allow the passage of legislation supporting privacy rights, including reproductive healthcare. (That came after a report published by Reuters Wednesday stating that “the White House is unlikely to take up the bold steps to protect women’s right to have an abortion that Democratic lawmakers have called for in recent days,” citing anonymous White House officials. A White House spokesperson disputed the report.)
“We have to codify Roe v. Wade into law,” Biden said. “If the filibuster gets in the way, it’s like voting rights. We should provide an exception for this.”
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But, as with voting rights, such a carve-out is unlikely to happen right now: Conservative Democrats Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema steadfastly oppose doing anything they say would weaken the Senate procedure, and are unlikely to budge. Democrats could make that move if they gain seats in the November midterms; as Senator Elizabeth Warren and others have noted, they may only need to expand their majority by two to get around Manchin, Sinema, and the Republicans.
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