3/15/21 . By Clay Bell for Firearms News. The U.S. Senate voted today to confirm Merrick Garland as U.S. attorney general, and he’s likely to become the most anti-gun attorney general in the ...
Contact Attorney General Merrick Garland (D) by his email address, mailing address, DC office phone number, and Facebook, Twitter, YouTube & Instagram pages:
President Joe Biden (D) announced Merrick Garland was his nominee for U.S. attorney general on January 7, 2021. This presidential appointment required Senate confirmation.. The Senate Judiciary Committee held Garland's confirmation hearing for February 22-23, 2021. The Senate confirmed him on March 10, 2021, by a vote of 70-30. The Biden Transition said in a press release, "A consensus ...
Merrick Garland’s thuggishness and partisanship show him to be unfit for the Supreme Court and he is not ethical and committed to justice as Biden's attorney general. He should go.
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 lifelong appointment. But in September 2020, then-President Donald Trump nominated Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court.
McConnell said he voted to confirm Garland's nomination as attorney general "because of his long reputation as a straight-shooter and legal expert," calling his "left-of-center perspective" within "the legal mainstream.".
Merrick Garland finally got his Senate vote. Now comes the hard part
Once committee hearings are closed, most committees have a set amount of time before a vote is taken on whether the nominee is reported to the Senate favorably, unfavorably, or without recommendation. The nomination will then go to the Senate floor for consideration. Once the nomination is considered by the Senate, unlimited debate is allowed until a majority of the Senate votes to invoke cloture and close debate. Following a vote of cloture, the Senate conducts a simple majority vote on whether to confirm, reject, or take no action on the nomination.
The Senate Judiciary Committee held Garland's confirmation hearing for February 22-23, 2021. The Senate confirmed him on March 10 , 2021, by a vote of 70-30.
In the Senate some votes are not about legislation at all, since the Senate must vote to confirm presidential nominations to certain federal positions. This vote was on a nomination by the President.
Since each state has two senators, but state populations vary significantly, the individuals living in each state have different Senate representation. For example, California’s population of near 40 million is given the same number of senators as Wyoming’s population of about 600,000.
The U.S. Constitution says that bills should be decided on by the “yeas and nays” (Article I, Section 7). Congress takes this literally and uses “yea” and “nay” when voting on the final passage of bills. All Senate votes use these words.
AG nominee Garland says his first priority would be to prosecute Capitol rioters. The News with Shepard Smith. “I would not have taken this job if I thought that politics would have any influence over prosecutions and investigations,” Garland told lawmakers at his hearing.
Before Biden tapped Garland to be attorney general, the centrist lawyer was nominated by former President Barack Obama to a seat on the Supreme Court in 2016 to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia.
He said that he and Biden had not discussed an ongoing investigation into the tax affairs of Hunter Biden, the president’s son. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., cheered Garland’s nomination ahead of the vote on Wednesday.
Garland takes over as the head of the Department of Justice as the sprawling agency continues to investigate the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, one of the largest probes in its history. Garland has called the inquiry his No. 1 priority.