Merrick Garland to Become Attorney General

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Joe Biden has chosen Judge Merrick Garland of the DC Circuit to be the new Attorney General, numerous reports say.  Among those being mentioned (Sen. Doug Jones, former Acting AG Sally Yates, and former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick), Garland is easily the best choice.  He’s liberal  —  make no mistake  —  but he believes in law, and believes there is a difference between law and politics.  He is a gracious person and a man of integrity.  He also has considerable experience as a prosecutor, having, among other things, led the capital prosecution of Timothy McVeigh as Principal Deputy AG in the Clinton years.  Biden deserves credit for this choice.  Now that the Senate will be controlled by his party, he could have gotten away with a lot worse.

The country will miss the determined and law-driven leadership of Bill Barr, who left a millionaire’s practice to put up with a boatload of headaches from his superior and an even bigger boatload of brickbats from his grossly partisan critics.  Many thanks are due him for his focused and courageous service.

1 Response

  1. Kent Scheidegger says:
    Jan 6, 2021 12:02 pm at 12:02 pm

    I agree.

    The WSJ story indicates that Mr. Biden was waiting for the Senate results to announce the pick. It seems strange to me that he would wait for Senate control to announce a choice that is likely to have bipartisan support. The delay had me worried that he was waiting for it to announce a more controversial nominee. But this is good news, and we can breathe a sigh of relief.