In the name of returning the DOJ to ānormal,ā the attorney general has protected an abnormal president from accountability.
Monday night, Merrick Garlandās Justice Department shocked a lot of people by filing a brief in federal court effectively
shielding Donald Trump from justice in a defamation suit over credible allegations that Trump may have raped writer E. Jean Carroll in the mid-1990s. Bill Barr, Trumpās attorney general, had come up with the argument that as a federal employee, Trump could not be sued for defamation. Observers had widely expected Bidenās department to reject that claim, so the announcement left Carrollās lawyers and many observers slack-jawed.
It shouldnāt have. On several key matters, Garlandās DOJ has concealed the full extent of Trumpās wrongdoing; it has kept thousands of immigrants from obtaining green cards, while flooding the immigration system with Trump-selected judges; expanded the scope of police power; ensured oil and gas profits for decades to come; and explicitly protected one of Trumpās most hated Cabinet secretaries from accountability. Indeed, Garland has quietly emerged as Donald Trumpās unwitting hatchet man, doing almost everything in his power to protect the lawless former presidentās legacy.
On May 24, Garland committed the DOJ to keep much of the so-called āBarr memoāāthrough which Garlandās predecessor almost unilaterally decided that no part of the Mueller probe would result in criminal chargesāsecret. Even Trump enemies who scoffed at the Russia probe should be disturbed by Garlandās other decisions, though. He has
committed the DOJ to defending a Trump-era policy slashing the number of legal immigrants who qualify for green cards. Heās hiring dozens of new immigration court judges who received their initial offers during the Trump era, and
codified Trump-era rules restricting immigrantsā options to prevent their own deportations. Garlandās Civil Rights Division also remains
perilously understaffed, enormously hampering its ability to conduct oversight of municipal police departments. It also
pursued private chat logs between government employees and reporters, a censorious case that began in the last 15 days of the Trump administration.
Much more...
In the name of returning the DOJ to ānormal,ā the attorney general has protected an abnormal president from accountability.
newrepublic.com
I'm coming to the conclusion that Garland may be a worthless slug on the order of Bill Barr. What do you think?