Senate confirms Merrick Garland as attorney general

Senate confirms Merrick Garland as attorney general

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Garland was confirmed in a 70-30 vote.

The former chief judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit was praised by members of both parties. He promised at his nomination hearing last month to “ward off any effort by anyone” to politically influence the Department of Justice’s investigations, and that his first priority would be to fully prosecute the “heinous” crimes committed in the attack on the United States Capitol on january 6

“America can breathe easy because it finally has someone like Merrick Garland leading the Department of Justice,” said Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat from New York. He called Garland “someone with integrity, independence, respect for the rule of law and credibility on both sides of the corridor”.

Garland will soon face politically charged issues at the Department of Justice, including whether the Department of Justice should be involved in former President Donald Trump’s role in the Capitol riot and how to handle a federal investigation into Biden’s son Hunter Biden. Federal investigators in Delaware have examined several financial issues, including whether Hunter Biden violated tax and money laundering laws in trade negotiations in foreign countries. Garland said last month that he had not spoken to the president about the case.
Garland could also oversee the investigation into the FBI investigation in Russia. But he said at his nominating hearing that he had “no reason to think” that John Durham’s special council “should not remain in office”.

“The president has made it very clear in all public statements before and after my appointment that decisions on investigations and prosecutions will be left to the Department of Justice,” said Garland. “That was the reason why I was willing to accept this job.”

In March 2016, then President Barack Obama appointed Garland to serve as a Supreme Court judge. The then Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, and Senate Republicans blocked his nomination, claiming that the public should vote for the next president to decide the nomination for life. But in September 2020, then President Donald Trump appointed Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. And on October 26, about a week before election day, it was confirmed by the Republican-controlled Senate.

McConnell said he voted to confirm Garland’s appointment as attorney general “because of his long-standing reputation as a direct sniper and law expert”, classifying his “center-left perspective” within the “legal mainstream”.

McConnell said he discussed the federal riot investigation on Capitol Hill with Garland to overturn Congressional certification for the 2020 elections and that law enforcement “needs to continue the job of identifying, arresting and prosecuting those who have broken the law.” He urged Garland to treat the left’s “political violence” “with equal seriousness” and also to oppose the Biden government’s efforts to bypass Congress and use its executive power to create programs like DACA.

“When confirmed, Judge Garland should not support other constitutionally corrosive efforts to repeal the laws effectively just by ignoring them,” said McConnell.

Before becoming a judge, Garland served under President Bill Clinton’s deputy attorney general, Jamie Gorelick, and led the Justice Department’s investigation of the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995.

Garland said in his audience that the current threat from white supremacists is “a more dangerous period than the one we faced at that time”. He also gave a brief, but emotional, anecdote in response to a question about his family’s history of confronting hatred and discrimination. Garland fought back tears as he explained why leading the Department of Justice was important to him.

“I come from a family where my grandparents fled anti-Semitism and persecution,” said Garland. “The country has welcomed and protected us. I feel an obligation to the country to give back.”

CNN’s Ted Barrett and Jeremy Herb contributed to this report.

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