Merrick Garland’s appointment by President Barack Obama for a seat on the Supreme Court was blocked in 2016 by Senator Mitch McConnell. Garland was cheated out of the honor to serve as a justice on the Court, and with class and professionalism went back to protecting the rule of law as a judge. McConnell’s hypocritical reasoning to disrespect both Garland and President Obama was that a president should not be allowed to choose a Supreme Court Justice within a presidential election year. Fast forward to 2019, McConnell supports Trump’s move to push the nomination of Judge Amy Coney-Barrett to replace the newly deceased Justice Ruth Bader-Ginsberg months before the upcoming presidential election. Hypocrisy in our government is disproportionately being practiced by congressional Republicans and It is killing chances for the two parties to respect their differences and work together for the betterment of America.
Attorney-General Garland’s resume of qualifications is now widely known by Americans and he is being touted as the perfect choice for this moment in history. He is a Harvard Law School graduate and served as Chief Justice of the D.C. Court of Appeals for 19 years. Among his rulings on the court was support for the transparency of our government, with only a few exceptions in favor of the government’s reasons to withhold information. He also played a lead role in the investigation and prosecution of the Oklahoma City Bomber and the Uni-bomber.
His strict adherence to the Constitution’s vision of democracy stands in stark contrast to William Barr’s vision that a president should have unrestricted powers over the executive branch, thus discrediting the concept of checks and balances between the three branches of government. In other words, Barr was Trump’s chief enabler to govern as an autocratic president with a narcissistically-driven disregard for the rule of law. With Merrick Garland as the Attorney General, the DOJ will return to its commitment as a non-partisan, “for the people” law enforcement agency.
Garland has repeatedly stated, he will run the investigations within the department with ” complete independence from the executive branch.” He has also stated President Biden has given his word to not interfere with any DOJ investigation, including the one into his son, Hunter Biden. Unlike Trump, who consistently inserted himself into investigations of his friends and family regularly, Biden won’t be executing his powers like a mob boss in complete disregard for DOJ laws and ethics. The country watched as Trump instructed Barr to discredit and misrepresent the findings of the Mueller Report and interfere in the investigations of convicted criminals and friends General Michael Flynn and Roger Stone. During his term, several groups that investigate ethics violations in government recommended impeachment proceedings be started against Barr for abuse of power, obstruction of justice, and selective use of law enforcement. Like many others in Trump’s political circle, Barr resigned from his position discredited professionally and tainted morally. Merrick Garland’s high level of integrity will further tarnish Barr’s historically corrupt performance as Attorney General.
Garland has made it clear the investigation of those who coordinated and participated in the January 6th deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol is his number one priority. He will be able to follow the facts without biased restrictions and partisan-based directives coming from a corrupt president. Suspicious behaviors, predominantly by Republican members of Congress, and possibly former President Trump, will be part of the investigation. Merrick Garland’s Department of Justice will once again operate independently from politics guided by the belief that “no one is above the law.”
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A COLLECTION OF POSTS FROM COVID TO THE END OF HIS PRESIDENCY
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