How should we view this, folks? Congressional Republicans are the source of my heartburn lately. They totally caved when they didn't need to on the Second Amendment by passing that anti-gun bill. They could be moving on to immigration next. We have written about that grand bargain which took a backseat once the Uvalde shooting occurred. The point is, I don't trust these guys. They should have spines of steel going into what could be one of the best political climates for Republicans in recent memory – and they decided to work with Democrats on this anti-gun legislation.
So, when I hear that Joe Biden might have struck a deal with McConnell, I fill with dread. The Kentucky Republican has done good, I won't lie. But recent moves have been incredibly disappointing.
In this case, Biden supposedly struck an agreement that he would nominate a judge to the federal bench who is pro-life. In return, McConnell won't gum up the works as much in future nominees (via Newsweek):
Days after the demise of Roe v. Wade, President Joe Biden has reportedly struck a deal with the Senate's top Republican that involves giving an anti-abortion lawyer a lifetime judicial appointment.
The Louisville Courier-Journal reported Wednesday that Biden will nominate Chad Meredith as a judge in Kentucky in what sources said is an apparent arrangement to shepherd his other federal nominations through the Senate. The reported deal comes as Biden faces pressure to protect abortion rights after the Supreme Court struck down federal protections for the procedure on Friday.
Representative John Yarmuth, Kentucky's sole congressional Democrat, confirmed to the Courier-Journal that Meredith will be nominated to the federal bench. Yarmuth, and other sources, told the paper the nomination is evidently part of a deal with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, of Kentucky, to not obstruct Biden's future federal nominations.
NEW from me and @adwolfson: President Biden is poised to nominate an anti-abortion Republican attorney for federal judgeship in Kentucky, in apparent deal with Mitch McConnell: https://t.co/nfheQeLVbl via @courierjournal
— Joe Sonka ?? (@joesonka) June 29, 2022
This is ATROCIOUS judgment by the White House. A slap in the face to reproductive rights supporters at the worst possible moment. An act of cowardice and complicity in anti-abortion extremism. Unforgivable on every level. https://t.co/rPogvqF7k8
— Mark Joseph Stern (@mjs_DC) June 29, 2022
After largely excluding abortion rights lawyers from his judicial nominations so far, Biden is now on the brink of nominating an anti-abortion lawyer for a federal judgeship. It’s an appalling betrayal.
— Mark Joseph Stern (@mjs_DC) June 29, 2022
One pro-life judge in return for a slew of lefty appointments. Is that a good deal? Granted, if we retake the Senate, it's a moot point, but right now – that mission objective has been compromised.
For one thing, the immediate backlash won't be from us but from the horde of pro-abortion supporters that make up the Democratic base. Right now, they're going apoplectic over the Dobbs decision that overturned Roe. v. Wade. The left will take this Biden deal as one that pours salt and vinegar into the wound with a squirting of Tabasco sauce into the eye afterward. Hey, let them rip each other apart on this one, but now we have to hope the GOP can't screw up anymore because if they maintain and increase their slim majority come November, we could have a train of crazy judges pulling into Union Station. It's possible, given some of the candidates we have running and the moves made up on the Hill.
