Senate Judiciary Committee clears path for final vote on Merrick Garland as next attorney general
The Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday approved Merrick Garland’s nomination to become President Biden’s attorney general, clearing the way for a final confirmation vote later this week.
Garland — whose Supreme Court nomination was infamously derailed by Republicans in 2016 — breezed to approval this time around, with four of the Judiciary Committee’s GOP members joining all 11 Democrats in voting 15-7 to advance his AG bid to the Senate floor.
Before the bipartisan vote, Senate Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) praised Garland as a breath of fresh air at the Justice Department, which Democrats believe former President Donald Trump used as a partisan cudgel.
“After four years of turmoil, we will have an attorney general who will restore independence to DOJ,” Durbin said.
The thumbs-up from the judiciary panel all but seals the deal for Garland, whose extensive résumé includes serving as chief judge for the prestigious federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., and investigating the Oklahoma City bombing while working as a senior Justice Department official in the mid-1990s.
The timing for the final floor vote on Garland was not immediately clear, but Durbin said last month that he expected it to take place by the end of this week.
Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, the Judiciary Committee’s top Republican, said he supports Garland’s nomination because he’s “an honorable man.”
But he has “his work cut out for him,” Grassley added.
The other Republicans on the committee who joined Grassley in voting for Garland were Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Thom Tillis of North Carolina and John Cornyn of Texas.
Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Josh Hawley of Missouri, hardened Trump allies who unsuccessfully tried to block certification of President Biden’s election, were among the Republicans who voted against advancing Garland’s nomination.
In his confirmation hearing last week, Garland said his first priority as attorney general would be investigating and prosecuting those responsible for the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Garland has emerged as Biden’s most high-profile cabinet pick, as he’s expected to grapple with the complicated question of whether to prosecute Trump, who incited the Jan. 6 attack and faces a range of other potential criminal exposure relating to his financial dealings.
The AG nominee did not say during his confirmation hearing if he’d be willing to prosecute Trump, but pledged to act with complete independence from the White House on all law enforcement matters.
“I am not the president’s lawyer. I am the United States’ lawyer,” he said, “and I will do everything in my power, which I believe is considerable, to fend off any effort by anyone to make prosecutions or investigations partisan or political in any way.”
