President Donald Trump has nominated another young conservative to the federal bench in Kentucky.
Benjamin Beaton’s law firm describes him as a “card-carrying member” of the Federalist Society, the conservative organization from which the White House has drawn many judicial appointees.
But Paducah-born and Centre College-educated Benjamin Beaton clerked for America’s most famed liberal judge, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the “Notorious RBG”.
Louisville attorney Mike Abate, who knows Beaton, described him as a “very smart guy” with a wealth of experience in federal court.
“Despite our political differences,” Abate said, “I think he is a very good pick.”
Luke Milligan, a professor at the University of Louisville’s Brandeis School of Law, also described Beaton as bright, hardworking and accomplished and said he knows his way around the federal courts, at both the appellate and trial levels.
“No surprise for a Republican judicial nominee, he’s conservative on matters of constitutional interpretation,” Milligan said.
The nomination apparently means the administration has dropped plans to try to appoint Chad Meredith, the top appellate lawyer in Kentucky Attorney General Dan Cameron’s office, who lawyers say was being vetted a few months ago for the position.
The Courier Journal reported in May that a document showed that “a person named Chad” worked on a potential pardon issued by Gov. Matt Bevin for Patrick Baker, who was sentenced to 19 years in a fatal Knox County home invasion and robbery.
Meredith previously worked for Bevin.
Baker’s brother had hosted a campaign fundraiser for Bevin in 2018 at his Corbin home, where he and the governor were seen having a private meeting.
If he is confirmed, Beaton would fill the U.S. District Court seat in Louisville being vacated by Justin Walker, who has been confirmed for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.
Beaton and Walker are similar in many respects — they are both young — Beaton is 39, a year older than Walker. Both have taught at the University of Louisville’s Brandeis School of Law, and both are Ivy school educated.
Beaton got his law degree from Columbia, while Walker went to Harvard.
Beaton is a partner in the Cincinnati office of Squire Patton Boggs, an international law firm where he co-chairs the firm’s Appellate & Supreme Court practice group.
He also has been one of the authors of the Sixth Circuit Blog, which covers decisions of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Appearing in March on a podcast called “SCOTUS 101,” he said he was working as a law clerk on the DC Court of Appeals when he got a surprise phone call from Ginsburg’s chambers. She invited him for an interview that day and hired him the next, despite their ideological differences.
“She said we were both going to make each other work harder,” Beaton recalled, laughing.
Beaton is married to Dr. Andrea Zawacki, and they have three children. They bought a $1.06 million home on Cherokee Road last year.
Abate, who represents media outlets that include The Courier-Journal, said Zawacki is a pediatric cardiologist and researcher.
Beaton went to Paducah Tilghman High School, according to his LinkedIn account, before enrolling at Centre, where he was sports editor for the campus newspaper and a member of Phi Beta Kappa.
He graduated summa cum laude, according to the college.
He worked as a legislative assistant to U.S. Representative Ed Whitfield, R-1st District, then went to Columbia, where he graduated in 2009 with the law school’s highest academic honor.
He later clerked for Judge A. Raymond Randolph on the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington and spent five months in Uganda as a legal fellow for the International Justice Mission. He clerked for Ginsburg In 2011.
He stayed on in Washington at Sidney Austin, another international firm, before joining Squire Patton Boggs, where he handles complex commercial litigation in federal and state courts and before administrative agencies.
He also is a frequent guest lecturer, including before Federalist Society chapters, and he sits on Centre’s board of trustees.
In a statement, U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell applauded his nomination, noting his success as a scholar and litigator.
Beaton has written law journal articles, including one on textualism that he co-authored with Court of Appeals Judge Amul Thapar, who he described as a mentor.
Beaton said on the podcast that they met a year ago at a University of Kentucky basketball game at Rupp Arena.
