Merrick Garland
Will a Democratic president ever nominate a U.S attorney general who has a spine? That question seems to be at the heart of a legal-advocacy group's call for the resignation of current AG Merrick Garland. Free Speech For People (FSFP) argues that Garland should resign for failing to hold former President Donald Trump and his allies accountable for crimes.
We had high hopes for Garland when Joe Biden nominated him. But we agree with FSFP's position, mainly because we can think of no excuse for Garland's failure to take action against Trump & Co., especially for their role in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol and their ongoing false claims regarding the nation's electoral process.
The current situation is particularly dismaying because it appears to continue a trend of Democratic administrations being unwilling to seek justice for apparent criminal acts that took place under their Republican predecessors. We are reminded of Barack Obama's statement in January 2009, just days before taking office, that he was inclined to "look forward, as opposed to looking backwards" regarding apparent crimes on the watch of George W. Bush.
Obama's stance was doubly damaging: (1) It was contrary to the principle that the U.S. Department of Justice acts independently of the White House; (2) It probably gave us Donald J. Trump, the most unfit, incompetent, and crooked president in American history. If Bush-era unlawfulness had been fully exposed, the Republican political brand likely would have been so badly damaged that Trump would have never gotten close to being elected.
Obama's stance was harmful to the country -- AND the Republican Party. With only two major political parties, the U.S. cannot afford to have one party wallowing in a pit of dysfunction and incompetence -- as has happened with the postmodern GOP. Count me as a Democrat -- heck I gladly answer to the name "libtard" -- but I strongly believe we need a GOP that can lead, govern, and command respect on the world stage. Sadly, not all voters agree with me, so we are going to have times when Republicans are in charge, and we need them to be able to act like, and govern like, adults. If Obama had held Bushies accountable, the GOP would have been forced to rediscover its capacity for governance. The Trumps and McConnells likely would have crawled back under their rocks, and our country would be stronger for it.
In short, Obama's squishiness on the rule of law gave us Donald Trump and more than 700,000 U.S. deaths (5 million worldwide) from a preventable pandemic -- not to mention acts of wrongdoing that are somewhat known -- or have yet to be fully uncovered. And that brings us back to Biden and Garland. Are they headed down the same path as Obama and Holder? From an article at Salon:
A nonpartisan nonprofit is calling on Attorney General Merrick Garland to resign over his apparent failure to "hold accountable former president Donald Trump and his co-conspirators for attempting to overthrow the government," suggesting that the Biden appointee is "the wrong person for this job at this time."
The group, Free Speech For People (FSFP) – started back in 2010 to combat the rise of "corporate personhood" in politics – outlined in a Thursday statement a smattering of ways in which the attorney general has allegedly abdicated his duties.
Back in January, the group urged Garland in an op-ed to assemble a specialized task force to independently investigate Trump's role in inciting the Capitol riot, for which he was later impeached. But Garland, they said, never took heed of their advice.
"If Garland had created a framework for credible, impartial criminal investigations of a former president of the United States, DOJ would have affirmed that no one—not even a former president—is above the law," the group wrote. "Yet while DOJ has charged the low-level insurrectionists who broke into the Capitol, it has not moved against the highly-placed leaders of the insurrection, including Trump himself."
Garland's inaction likely has already hurt the Democratic Party and the country. It has emboldened conservatives and moderates in Congress and made it more difficult for Biden to pass progressive infrastructure and social-welfare legislation. It might have cost Democrat Terry McAuliffe election as Virginia's governor, a race he likely would have won easily if it had looked like Trump & Co were going to pay a price for apparent criminality surrounding Jan. 6. Garland's skittishness is hurting his own party and president, while emboldening a party that has become a glorified cult with almost zero ability to govern. From Salon:
Much of Trump's criminal improprieties took place in the lead-up to the Capitol riot, when the former president stoked baseless outrage over a presidential election "stolen" by President Biden, the group added.
Back in January, roughly two months after his election loss, Trump made a private call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger asking the state official to effectively "find 11,780" votes in his favor. Furthermore, Trump and his allies put together an official plan – now known as the Eastman memo – outlining a step-by-step process by which they would illegally overturn the election by having former Vice President Mike Pence replace state electors with officials sympathetic to Trump's conspiracies of voter fraud.
"Their actions, no less than those of the individual rioters, may constitute conspiracy to impede or disrupt the orderly conduct of government business, insurrection, seditious conspiracy, and advocating the overthrow of the government," FSFP argued.
Late late month, Rolling Stone reported that several members of Congress – including Reps. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., and Madison Cawthorn, R-N.C. – actively conspired with multiple organizers of the Capitol riot, convening meetings with the organizers during the lead-up to the insurrection. Despite sitting on clear evidence of criminality, Garland has so far "failed to investigate" any of these lawmakers, FSFP said.
"For all these reasons, Garland is no longer fit to serve as Attorney General," the group wrote. "But as long as Trump and his co-conspirators walk free, American democracy is in danger. We need an Attorney General who understands that danger and is willing to take action to protect democracy and the rule of law."
