More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
U.S. President Joe Biden intends to nominate an anti-abortion Republican lawyer to a federal judgeship, two Kentucky Democrats informed of the decision say.
The prospective nominee, conservative lawyer Chad Meredith, would serve in a lifetime appointment to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky.
Meredith's prospective appointment was first reported by The Courier-Journal.
Kentucky Democrats expressed outrage about Meredith's expected nomination to the court before it was clear that a vacancy would emerge on the bench. But on Friday, U.S. District Court Judge Karen K. Caldwell of the Eastern District of Kentucky was added to a public list of future federal judicial vacancies, clearing a path for Meredith to potentially join the court.
The U.S. Courts list indicates that Caldwell shared her decision late last month to move into "senior" status as a judge for the court. By taking senior status, U.S. Courts states, judges may choose to handle a reduced caseload; regardless of that caseload, the status creates a vacancy on the court they serve on.
Biden's prospective nomination comes just as the President is pledging to use everything within his power to fight for abortion rights in the wake of last week's U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade. With the federal constitutional right to an abortion eliminated, states will have to determine abortion rights unless Congress acts.
Meredith previously worked as then-Kentucky Republican Gov. Matt Bevin's deputy counsel, defending a state law that requires doctors performing abortions to first perform an ultrasound and describe the image on the monitor to the patient.
In court in 2018, Meredith argued that the law would make sure women were more fully informed of their decision because "not every patient understands the consequences of the abortion procedure."
"This is right in the heartland of what states are permitted to do to regulate medicine," Meredith said at the time. "There are a number of patients who don't understand the nature of the fetus within them."
A spokesperson for Democratic Rep. John Yarmuth of Kentucky told CNN that the congressman "was informed of the White House's intent to nominate Meredith by White House staff." And Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear said in a news conference on Thursday that his team was informed about Biden's intention to nominate Meredith "late last week."
"My understanding right now is it has not been submitted, which I hope at the very least means it's on pause," Beshear said.
Beshear had strong words for Biden, saying: "If the President makes that nomination, it is indefensible."
The governor also criticized Meredith's involvement in Bevin's decision to issue hundreds of pardons before leaving office, which included forgiveness for a variety of violent acts such as murder and rape. There were accusations from critics that some of the pardons had been political in nature, which Bevin denied at the time.
"I don't know how the President can say he's for public safety if he makes this nomination," Beshear added.
Asked for comment, a White House official said, "As a matter of practice, we don't comment on executive or judicial vacancies."
Yarmuth told The Courier-Journal he believed Meredith's prospective nomination "is part of some larger deal on judicial nominations between the President and Mitch McConnell" -- namely, to get the Senate minority leader to agree to no longer hold up Biden's future federal nominations.
Brian Fallon, the co-founder and executive director of Demand Justice, a left-leaning organization focused on America's courts, on Friday criticized Biden's potential nomination of Meredith as a contrast to his record on judicial nominations.
"One of the unqualified success stories of the Biden presidency was his prioritizing of judicial nominations and elevation of public defenders and civil rights lawyers. I don't get why you would undercut that record to make a bad deal with McConnell - on the heels of (the Supreme Court's decision that overturned Roe v. Wade) no less," Fallon tweeted.
CNN has reached out to Meredith and McConnell's office for comment.
There are 119 current or expected lower court vacancies. The Biden administration has named a nominee for 34 of those vacancies so far.
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
An orca whale calf that has been stranded in a B.C. lagoon for weeks after her pregnant mother died swam out on her own early Friday morning.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
An Ontario man who took out a loan to pay for auto repairs said his car was repossessed after he missed two payments.
Devastating tornadoes tore across parts of eastern Nebraska and northeast Texas Friday as a multi-day severe thunderstorm event ramped up in the central United States, injuring at least three people.
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
Donald Trump's defence team attacked the credibility Friday of the prosecution's first witness in his hush money case, seeking to discredit testimony detailing a scheme between Trump and a tabloid to bury negative stories to protect the Republican's 2016 presidential campaign.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.