WASHINGTON – The Senate voted to confirm Merrick B. Garland on Wednesday to serve as attorney general, giving the formerly respected prosecutor and federal judge the task of leading the Department of Justice at a time when the country faces extremist threats. domestic duties and a settlement of civil rights.
Judge Garland was confirmed in the 70s and 30s, with 20 Republicans joining all 50 Democrats to support him. He is due to take an oath at the Justice Department on Thursday.
“Attorney General Garland will lead the Department of Justice with honesty and integrity,” Senator Richard J. Durbin, Democrat of Illinois and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said in a statement. “He has a great job ahead of him, but I can’t think of anyone I would prefer to have in his place.”
Judge Garland vowed to restore public faith in a department involved in political controversies under President Donald J. Trump, who sought to undermine federal law enforcement when she examined him and his associates and exercised his power to benefit him personally and politically.
At his confirmation hearing, Judge Garland, 68, said that becoming attorney general “would be the culmination of a career that I have dedicated myself to ensuring that our country’s laws are applied fairly and faithfully and the rights of all. Americans are protected “.
Judge Garland has accumulated decades of legal credentials. He served as Judge William J. Brennan Jr.’s secretary, worked for years as a federal prosecutor, and led important investigations into the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995 and others before being confirmed in the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals in 1997.
He was chosen by President Barack Obama in 2016 to join the Supreme Court only to see his nomination suspended for eight months in a bold political maneuver by Senator Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Republican and leader of the majority at the time. The change allowed Trump to choose his own candidate to fill the chair.
But McConnell, who said last year that he would support Judge Garland to serve as attorney general, was among the Republicans who voted for his confirmation and a day earlier to end the debate over his nomination, paving the way for the entire Senate vote. .
“I am voting to confirm Judge Garland because of his long-standing reputation as an honest sniper and legal expert,” McConnell said in the Senate floor before voting.
McConnell said he expected Judge Garland to bring his “objective approach” to address the challenges that the Department of Justice and the nation face, and that it will keep the department on a centrist path.
Department officials said Judge Garland’s performance at his confirmation hearing, a largely friendly case, made them hopeful that he would restore honor to the agency and lift his 115,000-person workforce demoralized by the Trump-era grudge.
Restoring trust inside and outside the Department of Justice will be critical, as Judge Garland will immediately oversee the politically charged investigations, including an investigation into federal tax fraud in President Biden’s son Hunter and an investigation by a special attorney into the investigation of the Russia.
The department will also be involved in civil and criminal cases related to issues that have bitterly divided the country, including systemic racism, policing, regulation of major technology companies, LGBTQ rights and other civil freedom issues.
Judge Garland will also face rising domestic extremism as law enforcement authorities continue to investigate the January 6 attack on Capitol Hill. His first instructions this week were expected to be with FBI director Christopher A. Wray to discuss the threat and with Michael R. Sherwin, the top prosecutor in Washington who led the Justice Department investigation.
The Capitol riot investigation approached Roger J. Stone Jr., one of Trump’s allies, and the FBI found evidence of communications between right-wing extremists and White House associates, underscoring how close Trump had lined up such groups during your presidency.
During his confirmation hearing, Judge Garland said he would rely on his experience leading the department’s investigation of the Oklahoma City bombing to help combat domestic extremism.
“I oversaw the lawsuit against those responsible for the bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building, who were looking to unleash a revolution that would topple the federal government,” he said. “I will oversee the prosecution of white supremacists and others who invaded the Capitol on January 6, a heinous attack that sought to break a cornerstone of our democracy, the peaceful transfer of power to a newly elected government.”
Republicans who voted against Judge Garland, including Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas, said they feared that his reputation as an impartial judge would not prevent him from embracing a “radical agenda” as Attorney General.
During the Clinton administration, Judge Garland was chosen by Jamie Gorelick, the deputy attorney general, to serve as his deputy chief. He oversaw the investigation of the Oklahoma City bombing, which led to the sentencing and execution of Timothy McVeigh, and went on to oversee other important cases including Unabomber, Theodore J. Kaczynski, and the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
The investigations helped to consolidate Judge Garland’s reputation as an impartial centrist. After confirmation from his appeals court, he did not return to the headlines again until 2016, when Obama nominated him to serve on the Supreme Court, a choice that won bipartisan support, including from conservative supporters like former Whitewater prosecutor Ken Starr.
But McConnell refused to consider his nomination and Trump chose Neil M. Gorsuch to fill the vacancy in 2017. Judge Garland remained on the appeals court.