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Judge Merrick Garland, President Joe Biden’s candidate for attorney general, will sit before the Senate Judiciary Committee for his confirmation hearing on Monday. In his opening statement, Garland says he will make civil rights, tackling “extremist attacks” and maintaining the independence of the Department of Justice one of his top priorities.
“If I am confirmed, being an attorney general will be the culmination of a career I have devoted to ensuring that the laws of our country are applied fairly and faithfully, and that the rights of all Americans are protected,” Garland will say, according to the prepared remarks that were released on Saturday.
After protests protesting the deaths of African Americans at the hands of the police and the systemic racial injustice swept across the country last year, Garland will make it clear the department’s role in addressing civil rights issues , recognizing that “we do not yet have equal justice”.
“Communities of color and other minorities continue to face discrimination in housing, education, employment and the criminal justice system; and bear the brunt of the damage from the pandemic, pollution and climate change, “Garland’s statement read.
Monday’s hearing comes five years after Senate Republicans blocked Garland’s Supreme Court nomination without even granting him a confirmation hearing. Garland was appointed by former President Barack Obama to take the seat previously held by the late Judge Antonin Scalia, who died in 2016.
As the country’s top law enforcement official, Garland will inherit the ongoing investigations into rioters who took part in the Capitol Uprising on Jan.6. News of Mr. Biden’s intention to appoint Garland broke on the same day as the deadly assault on the U.S. Capitol. .
Garland is no stranger to extremist violence. He is known for his previous work at the Department of Justice, where he oversaw the prosecution of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh and lone bomber Ted Kaczynski, widely known as the “Unabomber.”
“150 years after the creation of the department, the fight against extremist attacks against our democratic institutions also remains at the heart of its mission,” Garland said. “If confirmed, I will oversee the prosecution of white supremacists and others who stormed the Capitol on January 6 – a heinous attack that sought to disrupt a cornerstone of our democracy: the peaceful transfer of power to a newly established government. elected.”
At an event the day after the Capitol Riot to announce the nomination, Mr Biden addressed Garland and other candidates for high-level Justice Department positions, saying: “You will not work for me. You are neither the president nor the vice president’s lawyer.
“Your loyalty is not to me. It is up to the law, to the Constitution, to the people of this nation to guarantee justice,” Biden added.
Garland will also oversee several on-going politically sensitive investigations, such as the one into the “tax cases” of Mr Biden’s son Hunter Biden, as well as Special Advisor John Durham’s investigation into the origins of the 2016 investigation into Russia.
However, in his prepared remarks, Garland makes it clear that as attorney general his job will be to uphold “the rule of law” by “reaffirming … the standards”.
Garland will stress the importance of existing policies that “protect the independence of the department from partisan influence in police investigations” and “strictly regulate communications with the White House.”
Several Republicans on the Senate bench said on Wednesday they would press Garland at his confirmation hearing to pledge to investigate the COVID-19 nursing home deaths, including the controversial report by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, of the total number of nursing home deaths in his state.
Garland’s hearing is scheduled for Monday and Tuesday, and the committee will vote on whether to advance his Senate nomination on March 1.
Letters of support for his appointment were submitted to the committee on Friday by a bipartisan group of officials. The group included 61 former federal judges, as well as more than 150 former US lawyers and senior DOJ officials, including former Attorneys General Eric Holder, Loretta Lynch and Michael Mukasey.
“Judge Garland has dedicated a great deal of his life to the US justice system,” the letter read. “And we can say unequivocally that Justice Garland is the right person to ensure that the rule of law remains, in our national consciousness, one of our deepest values.”
Garland was appointed to the United States Court of Appeal for the District of Columbia in 1997 by former President Bill Clinton and served as chief justice for seven years. Prior to being a judge, he served in the ranks of the Department of Justice as the Assistant United States Attorney General in Washington, DC, Assistant Deputy Attorney General in the Criminal Division, and as Senior Assistant Attorney General. He graduated from Harvard College summa cum laude in 1974 and Harvard Law School magna cum laude in 1977.
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