Tag Archives: Merrick Garland

The Washington Post reports: Attorney General Merrick Garland said Monday that the Justice Department would beef up its policies for obtaining lawmakers’ records and vowed “strict accountability” for officials who let politics affect their work, issuing a lengthy statement amid a metastasizing controversy over department efforts during the Trump administration to obtain the data of congressmen, journalists and even the …

NBC News reports: Attorney General Merrick Garland announced Friday that he plans to double the number of staff within the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division dedicated to protecting voting rights. “There are plenty of things up for debate in America, but the right of all eligible Americans to vote is not one of them,” Garland said. The staffing surge would …

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports: The U.S. Department of Justice will conduct a sweeping investigation into whether the Minneapolis Police Department engages in a “pattern and practice” of illegal conduct, according to a source familiar with the inquiry. The investigation, coming one day after ex-officer Derek Chauvin’s murder and manslaughter conviction, will seek to establish whether the state’s largest police department …

Via press release from the Justice Department: The Department of Justice announced an update today on criminal and civil enforcement efforts to combat COVID-19 related fraud, including schemes targeting the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program and Unemployment Insurance (UI) programs. As of today, the Department of Justice has publicly charged 474 defendants with criminal offenses …

CBS News reports: The Senate is expected to confirm Judge Merrick Garland as attorney general on Wednesday, five years after he was blocked from consideration as former President Barack Obama’s nominee to the Supreme Court. Garland’s nomination is expected to be approved with bipartisan support. The Senate Judiciary Committee last week advanced his nomination with a vote of 15 to …

The Hill reports: Merrick Garland’s attorney general nomination is hitting GOP roadblocks that will likely delay his confirmation to lead the Justice Department until next week. Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) — a member of the Judiciary Committee viewed as a potential 2024 contender — said on Wednesday that he is blocking an effort by Democrats to expedite Garland, whom they …

CNBC reports: The Judiciary Committee on Monday advanced federal appeals court Judge Merrick Garland’s nomination to be attorney general to the full Senate, paving the way for his confirmation to head the Department of Justice. The bipartisan vote was 15-7. A full Senate vote has not been scheduled but could come early this week. Garland’s hearings before the committee last …

ABC News reports: Attorney General nominee Merrick Garland will face another day of questioning Tuesday on how he’ll oversee probes ranging from the Jan. 6 Capitol breach to Hunter Biden’s business dealings — along with his stance on left-wing rioters in Portland and Seattle. Garland pledged during Monday’s hearing that handling the investigation into last month’s deadly siege on the …

The Washington Post reports: Attorney general nominee Merrick Garland said Monday that his first priority and briefing if confirmed as attorney general would center on the sprawling investigation into the Jan. 6 riot the U.S. Capitol. Testifying at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Garland drew parallels to the domestic terrorism threat the Justice Department faced in confronting …

CNN reports: At last, Merrick Garland gets his Senate confirmation hearing. Five years ago, Garland became the poster child for the Republican blockade of an open Supreme Court seat in the final year of President Barack Obama’s term when Senate Republicans denied even a hearing to the Supreme Court nominee. Now Garland gets another chance to go before the Senate …

Bloomberg News reports: Merrick Garland, President Joe Biden’s nominee for attorney general, is pledging he’ll take the lead in prosecuting participants in the mob that attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6. “If confirmed, I will supervise the prosecution of white supremacists and others who stormed the Capitol on January 6 — a heinous attack that sought to disrupt a cornerstone …

Politico reports: Joe Biden has selected Judge Merrick Garland to serve as his attorney general, according to two people with knowledge of the decision. Biden selected Garland over former Sen. Doug Jones (D-AL) and former deputy attorney general Sally Yates, choosing to elevate the chief judge of the United States Court of Appeals in D.C. to run the Justice Department. …

NPR reports: Federal appeals court Judge Merrick Garland is under consideration to serve as attorney general in the administration of President-elect Joe Biden, NPR has learned from two people closely following the process. Garland, 68, is the widely respected former chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. He launched his career at the Justice Department …

Iowa Starting Line reports: “I think we should have been a whole heck of a lot harder on [Mitch McConnell],” Biden said when asked if there was anything he and President Obama should have done differently on the Merrick Garland nomination. “I’d say, what are you doing, you’re setting a horrible precedent here. And the answer was, I know Joe, …

From McConnell’s interview with New York Times Magazine: When I asked McConnell how he felt about his legacy and Trump’s being so closely linked, he rejected the premise. “I don’t think so,” he said. “I think the most consequential call I made was before President Trump came to office.” I asked what he meant. “The decision not to fill the …

Talking Points Memo reports: In 2016, when Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) announced Republicans’ plan to keep the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia’s seat open until the next president took office, a year away, he issued a conclusive statement. “The American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court Justice. Therefore, this vacancy …

The Washington Post reports: Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) privately urged President Trump in a phone call earlier this week to nominate federal Judge Merrick B. Garland, then President Barack Obama’s third nominee to the Supreme Court who was summarily shunned by Senate Republicans in 2016, to replace retiring Justice Anthony M. Kennedy. Trump had called Schumer on …

The Washington Examiner reports: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s former chief of staff, Josh Holmes, on Sunday declared his old boss’s strong support for the potential nomination of Merrick Garland as FBI director. “I think the Senate majority leader thinks that’s a fantastic idea,” Holmes said during a panel discussion on “Fox News Sunday.” He was reacting to Sen. Mike …

Politico reports: The air war over Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee is already beginning, less than two weeks after the election. The conservative Judicial Crisis Network is launching an ad buy of more than $175,000 to applaud Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) for holding the line against President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland. Grassley never allowed Garland …

But only if Hillary wins, of course. The Hill reports: The conservative group Heritage Action is pushing Republican senators to keep the Supreme Court at eight justices if Democrat Hillary Clinton is elected president. In a Thursday morning briefing at the Heritage Foundation’s Washington headquarters on Capitol Hill, the group said Republicans should embrace the idea of leaving the Supreme …