WASHINGTON – Merrick Garland, candidate for attorney general for President Joe Biden, is expected to face questions on Monday about how he plans to address some daunting challenges, including an investigation of the president’s son and the actions of the former president and his close advisers.
During a confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Garland is likely to emphasize his goal of protecting the Department of Justice’s independence from White House political interference in law enforcement investigations after William Barr was frequently accused, including by federal judges , to put Donald Trump interests ahead of the department.
When his nomination was announced last month, he said he would endeavor to “treat similar cases the same way, that there is no one rule for Democrats and another for Republicans, one rule for friends and another for enemies” .
Senators will seek assurances that he will not allow the policy to influence a tax investigation, initiated under Barr, of Biden’s son Hunter, or in negotiations by former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani with the Ukrainian government. He will also face questions about Special Advisor John Durham, appointed by Barr to examine the FBI’s investigation of the Trump campaign.
Democrats can pressure him to explain how he will assess claims that Trump and Giuliani’s comments prompted the January 6 attack on the United States Capitol. The Senate voted not to condemn the ex-president, but Republican leader Mitch McConnell said: “We have a criminal justice system in this country. We have civil litigation and ex-presidents are not immune from being held responsible for any of them.”
Garland and his deputies will face the task of administering the federal riot investigation, with over 250 individuals charged so far and more than 550 open investigations. In his comments prepared for the audience, he called this “a heinous attack that sought to disturb a cornerstone of our democracy: the peaceful transfer of power to a newly elected government.”
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He will face an even greater challenge in deciding whether and how federal law should be changed to give the FBI more latitude to investigate domestic terrorism, without violating the right to freedom of expression. Matthew Schneider, who as a US prosecutor in Detroit accused members of an extremist group of plotting to kidnap Michigan’s governor, said this was one of the biggest issues facing the police.
“Whenever there is a significant event in the history of the United States, there has been a change in the law,” he said. “There was organized crime in the 70’s, RICO [the federal racketeering law]. Credit card fraud in the 1980s, they passed identity bylaws. After 9/11, they passed the Patriot Act. So the question is, do you believe that after January 6, we will need a new domestic law against terrorism? “
If confirmed – as seems likely, with Democrats in control of the Senate – Garland will return to the department he left 24 years ago to become a federal appeals judge in Washington. He first caught the public’s attention in 1995: after the bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building, Garland was appointed to oversee the government’s handling of the case.
President Bill Clinton put him on the appeals court, and in 2016, Barack Obama appointed Garland to succeed Antonin Scalia on the United States Supreme Court. But Republicans blocked the nomination and Garland never had an audience.
Garland’s prepared comments said the mission to defend civil rights remains urgent. “We still don’t have equal justice. Communities of color and other minorities still face discrimination in housing, education, employment and the criminal justice system, ”he said.
A bipartisan group of more than 150 former Justice Department officials signed a letter supporting Garland’s current nomination, including four former attorney generals – Democrats Eric Holder and Loretta Lynch and Republicans Alberto Gonzales and Michael Mukasey.
In announcing Garland’s appointment as attorney general, Biden said, “You will not work for me. You are not the attorney for the president or the vice president. Your loyalty is not to be. It is to the law, the constitution, the people of this nation. “
On Monday, Garland will answer hours of questions about how he will put that goal into practice.
