Draft:Chad Meredith
{{Short description|American judge}}
{{Draft topics|biography|north-america|politics-and-government}}
{{AfC topic|blp}}
{{AfC submission|||ts=20250620162104|u=William R. Wilks II|ns=118}}
{{Infobox judge
| honorific_prefix =
| name = Chad Meredith
| honorific_suffix =
| image =
| alt =
| caption =
| office1 = Solicitor General of Kentucky
| order1 = 1st
| predecessor1 = position established
| successor1 = Matt Kuhn
| term_start1 = 2019
| term_end1 = 2021
| birth_name =
| birth_date =
| birth_place = Lexington, Kentucky
| death_date =
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| resting_place =
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| party = Republican
| education = Washington and Lee
University (B.A.)
University of Kentucky
College of Law (J.D.)
| relations = Stephen Meredith (father)
}}
Stephen Chad Meredith{{cite web |author= |date=May 26, 2025 |title=Stephen C. Meredith |url=https://www.kybar.org/members/?id=32548472 |website=kybar.org |location= |publisher=Kentucky Bar Association |access-date=June 19, 2025}} (known professionally as Chad Meredith) is an American lawyer who served as solicitor general of Kentucky from 2019 to 2021. He is currently a nominee for United States district judge for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky.
Meredith is currently a partner at the law firm of Squire Patton Boggs.{{Cite web |title=S. Chad Meredith | M | Professionals | Squire Patton Boggs |url=https://www.squirepattonboggs.com/en/professionals/m/s-chad-meredith |website=www.squirepattonboggs.com}}
Early life and education
A native of Lexington, Kentucky, Meredith is the son of Stephen Meredith, a member of the Kentucky Senate. Meredith earned a Bachelor of Arts degree, summa cum laude, from Washington and Lee University in 2004. While at Washington and Lee, Meredith was inducted as a member of the Phi Beta Kappa and Omicron Delta Kappa honor societies.{{Cite web |date=2004 |title=The Calyx |url=https://digitalarchive.wlu.edu/islandora/calyx-2004 |access-date=June 20, 2025 |website=Washington and Lee University Digital Archive |page=46-47}} He earned his Juris Doctor, summa cum laude and Order of the Coif, from the University of Kentucky College of Law in 2007.{{Cite web |title=Hon. S. Chad Meredith |url=https://fedsoc.org/contributors/chad-meredith |access-date=2022-07-05 |website=fedsoc.org|date=9 April 2021 }}{{cite web |author= |date= |title=S. Chad Meredith |url=https://1npdf11.onenorth.com/pdfrenderer.svc/v1/ABCpdf11/GetRenderedPdfByUrl//S_Chad_Meredith.pdf/?url=https%3a%2f%2fwww.squirepattonboggs.com%2fen%2fprofessionals%2fm%2fs-chad-meredith%3fpdf%3dtrue&attachment=false |website=squirepattonboggs.com |location= |publisher=Squire Patton Boggs |access-date=June 19, 2025}}
Meredith is a member of the Federalist Society.
Career
= Counsel to Governor Bevin and Solicitor General =
After law school, Meredith served as a law clerk for Judge John M. Rogers and Judge Amul Thapar before joining Frost Brown Todd as a litigator. He later worked for Ransdell & Roach before joining the administration of Governor Matt Bevin in 2015 as chief deputy general counsel. In December 2019, Attorney General Danial Cameron appointed Meredith as the commonwealth's first solicitor general, a position he would continue to hold until 2021.{{Cite web |last=Wolfson |first=Mike Trautmann, Joe Sonka and Andrew |title=Who is Chad Meredith, the anti-abortion Republican President Biden plans to make a judge? |url=https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/politics/mitch-mcconnell/2022/07/05/who-chad-meredith-bidens-anti-abortion-pick-kentucky-judge/7790119001/ |access-date=2022-07-05 |website=The Courier-Journal |language=en-US}}
= Unsuccessful nominations =
In 2020, Meredith was vetted to possibly be nominated by President Donald Trump to the United States District Court for the Western District of Kentucky following the elevation of Judge Justin R. Walker to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. However, Meredith was passed over in favor of Benjamin Beaton.{{Cite web |last=Wolfson |first=Andrew |title=Young conservative who clerked for Ginsburg nominated to the federal bench in Louisville |url=https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/politics/mitch-mcconnell/2020/08/12/young-conservative-who-clerked-ruth-bader-ginsburg-nominated-federal-judge/3359966001/ |access-date=2025-06-20 |website=The Courier-Journal |language=en-US}}
In late-June 2022, it was reported that President Joe Biden would nominate Meredith to serve as a judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky.{{cite web |url=https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/30/politics/biden-federal-judgeship-kentucky-conservative-anti-abortion-lawyer/index.html |title=Biden intends to nominate a conservative, anti-abortion lawyer to federal judgeship, Kentucky Democrats say |last1=Vazquez |first1=Maegan |last2=Diaz |first2=Daniella |last3=Lee |first3=MJ |publisher=CNN |date=June 30, 2022 |website=cnn.com |access-date=July 5, 2022}} The nomination announcement was originally scheduled for June 24, the same day the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision was released. The plan to nominate Meredith, which was struck between Biden and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, was criticized due to Meredith's anti-abortion stances.{{Cite web |last=Stern |first=Mark Joseph |date=2022-07-01 |title=The Biden-McConnell Deal to Make an Anti-Abortion Advocate a Federal Judge Is Still On |url=https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/07/biden-mcconnell-chad-meredith-abortion-kentucky-judge.html |access-date=2022-07-05 |website=Slate Magazine |language=en}}{{Cite news |date=2022-07-01 |title=Biden's Planned Nomination of Anti-Abortion Judge Outrages Left |language=en |work=Bloomberg.com |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-07-01/potential-biden-kentucky-judicial-nominee-outrages-progressives |access-date=2022-07-05}} Despite McConnell's support, the nomination was never formally put forward by Biden in accordance with the blue slip rule due to opposition from Senator Rand Paul.{{Cite web |date=2025-06-19 |title=President Donald Trump's latest judicial pick is someone that Joe Biden almost nominated |url=https://apnews.com/article/trump-kentucky-judges-mitch-mcconnell-chad-meredith-a0af0a9a4db445d0cb65633c3fc3680f |access-date=2025-06-20 |website=AP News |language=en}}
=Nomination to the Eastern District of Kentucky=
On June 18, 2025, President Trump announced his intention to nominate Meredith to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky to a seat vacated by Senior Judge Danny C. Reeves. The nomination was formally transmitted to the United States Senate on June 23, 2025, and is currently pending before the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary.{{cite web |last=Ward |first=Jasper |date=June 19, 2025 |title=Trump taps Kentucky lawyer for judgeship after scrapped Biden nomination |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-taps-kentucky-lawyer-judgeship-after-scrapped-biden-nomination-2025-06-19/ |website=reuters.com |location= |publisher=Reuters |access-date=June 19, 2025}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.congress.gov/nomination/119th-congress/368|title=PN368 - Nomination of Stephen Chad Meredith for The Judiciary, 119th Congress (2025-2026)|date=June 23, 2025|website=www.congress.gov}} Senator Paul has stated he will support Meredith's nomination despite his previous opposition in 2022.
Publications
- Meredith, S. Chad (2006). "Look Homeward Candidate: Evaluating and Reforming Kentucky's Residency Definition and Bona Fides Challenges in Order to Avoid a Potential Crisis in Gubernatorial Elections". Kentucky Law Journal. 95 (1): 211–40.{{cite web |last1=Meredith |first1=S. |date=January 2006 |title=Look Homeward Candidate: Evaluating and Reforming Kentucky's Residency Definition and Bona Fides Challenges in Order to Avoid a Potential Crisis in Gubernatorial Elections |url=https://uknowledge.uky.edu/klj/vol95/iss1/7/ |work=Kentucky Law Journal |volume=95 |issue=1}}
References
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{{Draft categories|
:Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
:Category:People from Lexington, Kentucky
}}
:Category:Draft-Class Kentucky pages
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