Senate confirms Garland as attorney general

Source: Politico | March 10, 2021 | Josh Gerstein

The 70-30 vote came almost five years to the day after the judge’s initial Supreme Court nomination.

The Senate has confirmed President Joe Biden’s pick for attorney general, Judge Merrick Garland, by a vote of 70 to 30.

The victory for Garland, 68, came almost five years after his failed nomination to the Supreme Court by President Barack Obama in 2016. The Senate, then under Republican control, denied Garland a hearing or vote.

Garland, who has been a judge on the powerful D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals since 1997, received the support of every Democrat and 20 Republicans. Several potential GOP presidential hopefuls voted against Garland’s confirmation, including Sens. Ben Sasse of Nebraska and Tom Cotton of Arkansas.

Garland encountered little resistance at his confirmation hearing last month, although Republicans pressed him to promise that he would not interfere with an ongoing special counsel investigation into the origins of the FBI probe of alleged ties between the Trump campaign and Russia.

Garland said he saw no reason to disturb former Attorney General Bill Barr’s appointment of longtime federal prosecutor John Durham to oversee that review, but the nominee declined to explicitly commit to allowing Durham to complete his work. Republicans also urged Garland to ensure no political intervention in an ongoing inquiry that the U.S. attorney in Delaware is conducting into the tax and business affairs of Biden’s son, Hunter.

While Republicans were generally friendly to Garland at his hearing and insisted their resistance to his confirmation to the Supreme Court was based on concerns unrelated to him personally, some later indicated that he had been too vague and evasive in his answers.

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  • Consistent March 10, 2021 at 3:16 pm #47876

    Consistent March 10, 2021 at 3:36 pm #47879

    EVERYDAY March 10, 2021 at 5:44 pm #47880

    Well, if nothing else, Garland’ won’t be President Biden’s personal attorney and weapon against enemies (mostly imagined) as the previous AG was for Trump.

    I’ll be very happy if Garland can get convictions not only of Oath Keepers, Proud Boys and others who actively participated in the attempted coup of January 6, but also who in the White House or affiliated with its previous occupant who conspired with them. This was not a spontaneous act inspired by Trump’s words that day, but something that was meticulously planned for at least months with people in Trump’s inner circle, if not Trump himself, involved. And if Trump took no active part in the planning, he at least had to know it was going down.

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