Garland was chosen by Biden for attorney general over former Alabama Sen. Doug Jones and former acting attorney general Sally Yates, the two other finalists for the position.
2020 Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden unwittingly boosted his late son Beau's resume during a CNN town hall event on Thursday. Biden misspoke when he claimed his son was "Attorney General of the United States." He was half right. Beau was the Attorney General of Delaware.
President-elect Joe Biden is expected to name Merrick Garland, a longtime judge on the federal appeals court in Washington, his attorney general. Who is Merrick Garland?
As of May 19, 2022, President Biden had nominated 47 people to be U.S. attorneys, and 43 of them were confirmed. There are a total of 93 U.S. attorneys in the Department of Justice.
Attorney General Rob BontaClick for high-resolution photo. On April 23, 2021, Rob Bonta was sworn in as the 34th Attorney General of the State of California, the first person of Filipino descent and the second Asian-American to occupy the position.
Attorney General Merrick B. Garland was sworn in as the 86th Attorney General of the United States on March 11, 2021. As the nation's chief law enforcement officer, Attorney General Garland leads the Justice Department's 115,000 employees, who work across the United States and in more than 50 countries worldwide.
69 years (November 13, 1952)Merrick Garland / Age
He joined the court in 1997 after being nominated by President Bill Clinton (D). Garland became chief judge in 2013, holding that position for seven years before his term expired in 2020. Garland retired from the court on March 10, 2021, following his confirmation.
On March 16, 2016, President Obama nominated Merrick Garland, the Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, to fill the vacant seat on the Court.
73 years (June 23, 1948)Clarence Thomas / Age
Chicago, ILMerrick Garland / Place of birth
Harvard Law School1974–1977Harvard College1970–1974Niles West High School1970Harvard UniversityMerrick Garland/Education
President-elect Joe Biden will nominate Judge Merrick Garland as his attorney general. Biden is picking Garland over former Democratic Sen. Doug Jones of Alabama and former deputy attorney general Sally Yates, who were also considered front-runners for the post.
The Associated Press reported that Biden tapped Garland because he has experience in the Justice Department serving under two presidents – George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton and the president-elect is looking to restore integrity to the office.
Nomination and confirmation. Garland is sworn in as Attorney General in March 2021. President-elect Joe Biden selected Garland for the position of United States attorney general, with news of the selection coming on January 6, 2021. He was formally nominated by Biden on January 20, after Biden took office.
President Barack Obama, a Democrat, nominated Garland to serve as an associate justice of the Supreme Court in March 2016 to fill the vacancy created by the death of Antonin Scalia. However, the Republican Senate majority refused to hold a hearing or vote on his nomination.
First Amendment. According to Goldstein, Garland has "tended to take a broader view" of First Amendment rights. In cases involving the Freedom of Information Act and similar provisions related to government transparency, "Judge Garland's rulings reflect a preference for open government.". In ACLU v.
In dissent, Garland (who like Roberts had clerked for Friendly), cited Friendly's book as supporting the use of legislative intent, writing that Roberts was relying on "'canons' of statutory construction, which serve there as 'cannons' of statutory destruction.".
Garland is considered a judicial moderate and a centrist. Garland has been described by Nina Totenberg and Carrie Johnson of NPR as "a moderate liberal, with a definite pro-prosecution bent in criminal cases". Tom Goldstein, the publisher of SCOTUSblog, wrote in 2010 that "Judge Garland's record demonstrates that he is essentially the model, neutral judge. He is acknowledged by all to be brilliant. His opinions avoid unnecessary, sweeping pronouncements." Garland has a reputation for collegiality and his opinions rarely draw a dissent. As of 2016, Garland had written just fifteen dissents in his two decades on the court, fewer than his colleague Judge Brett Kavanaugh, who wrote some 17 dissents over the previous decade.
There’s not an obvious choice in my mind. So we’re just working through it.
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Merrick Garland delivers remarks after being nominated U.S. attorney general by President-elect Joe Biden in Wilmington, Del., on Jan. 7, 2021. Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images.
The clear inference from that timing is that Garland was Biden's first choice but that he wasn't willing to nominate him unless it was clear that a nominee for Garland's seat on the country's second most powerful court could be confirmed.
Biden making Merrick Garland attorney general isn't the best idea. It also isn't the worst one. Biden making Merrick Garland attorney general isn't the best idea. It also isn't the worst one. The nominee is much like the president-elect: competent but boring with a few glaring flaws from the perspective of progressives.
It also seems highly likely that Biden was influenced by Garland's Supreme Court nomination: Giving Garland the nod for attorney general is understandable, both as a reward to Garland for enduring public disappointment and humiliation in service to the Obama administration's agenda and as a way to troll McConnell, who has lost his power to stop Garland's confirmation.
Ultimately, Garland is the Joe Biden of nominees, really: bland and competent without being particularly interesting or progressive, all of which is infinitely preferable to Donald Trump and his minions but behind the curve of the Democratic coalition ideologically.