Merrick Garland, Defender of Elite Impunity
In the interest of appearing non-partisan, America's Attorney General is letting Trumpian scofflaws go free
Trump and his corrupt cronies have been twice lucky. When Trump was president, Attorney General William J. Barr served as a legal bodyguard; now that Biden is president, a new Attorney General, Merrick Garland, has the job.
The Department of Commerce’s inspector general has determined that Wilbur Ross, when serving as secretary of Commerce under Trump, misled congress under oath. Ross falsely claimed that the decision to put a citizenship question on the census was made in response to a request from the Justice Department. In fact, the decision was substantially pushed by Trump officials, Ross included, for cynically partisan reasons. The citizenship question was designed to discourage undocumented immigrants from answering the census, thus lowering the count in areas largely represented by Democrats.
Garland has decided not to prosecute Ross for perjury. [SEE CORRECTION BELOW] Legal journalist Ian Millhiser suggests that Garland might fear that Republican judges would resist a cabinet member of their party being charged.
No doubt this is a factor, but equally important is Garland’s own preferences. Garland is an institutionalist who is committed to returning the Department of Justice to pre-Trump norms. Unfortunately, those norms include elite impunity.
Writing in The New Republic last month, Jeff Hauser and Max Moran documented how Garland’s institutionalist orientation made him a Trump protector:
Monday night, Merrick Garland’s 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, Trump’s attorney general, had come up with the argument that as a federal employee, Trump could not be sued for defamation. Observers had widely expected Biden’s department to reject that claim, so the announcement left Carroll’s lawyers and many observers slack-jawed.
It shouldn’t have. On several key matters, Garland’s DOJ has concealed the full extent of Trump’s 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 Trump’s most hated Cabinet secretaries from accountability. Indeed, Garland has quietly emerged as Donald Trump’s unwitting hatchet man, doing almost everything in his power to protect the lawless former president’s legacy.
Garland’s business-as-usual approach is very much a political choice, one based on an unwillingness to recognize the threat Trump poses. Garland wants to return to the tried and true norms of pre-Trumpian Washington. But Trump’s presidency was not normal Deferring to decisions made by Trump while refusing to hold Trump and his crew accountable won’t take you back to the status quo. I’ll only validate Trumpian lawlessness. And it creates a precedent for future crimes. Out of a desire to maintain the appearance of non-partisanship, Merrick Garland has become an enabler of Trumpism.
CORRECTION:
After this post was composed and scheduled, AP issued this correction: “This story has been corrected to reflect that the decision not to prosecute Ross was made by the Department of Justice during the Trump administration, not the Biden administration.” I’m keeping the post up because the broader point about Garland’s deference to precedence remains. He’s unlikely to overturn the earlier DOJ decision.
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If Garland "is committed to returning the Department of Justice to pre-Trump norms," why continue to frame the problem as "Trumpism"? Isn't it time to admit that Trump was never some unique threat to the liberal order but rather that there never was a liberal order in the first place? The commitment to institutionalism Garland represents is a terrible threat to American democracy whether or not there ever was a Donald Trump.
"No doubt this is a factor, but equally important is Garland’s own preferences. Garland is an institutionalist who is committed to returning the Department of Justice to pre-Trump norms. Unfortunately, those norms include elite impunity."
Yes, well, the elite impunity is the problem. It's a been a problem with Trump for more than 40 years, given that the guy is (and was!) a known crook and running around NYC being an asshole for decades on end.
"Garland wants to return to the tried and true norms of pre-Trumpian Washington."
They aren't tried and true, they're unworkable and bad, but beloved by swamp critters. I expect Biden appointed Garland as some cutesy revenge move for failing to get the gone on the Supreme Court, but the evidence suggests he was merely a really poor choice for the SC on Obama's part. Performance-wise, having tried him out, it seems like a good time to sack him and get somebody else - if it's not working, it's not working. It's not like he's not going to get a extremely well-compensated job as a white shoe lobbyist after he leaves DOJ.
"On several key matters, Garland’s DOJ has concealed the full extent of Trump’s wrongdoing;"
There was a lot of refusing subpoenas and the like that should have been punished and wasn't. It's not a matter of concealing things (and it accomplishes that en passant) - it's matter of refusing to go after rich white people and crying constantly about a mildly increased crime rate (involving black people). The general response anytime such a person talks about the rising crime rate should be 'hey, fuck off schmuck!'. Can't stand on principle and moral authority if you have not got any. (Incidentally, Garland has severely underwhelmed here, but Bill Barr is and was (in the Bush the Elder administration too) a total scumbag.)
"Out of a desire to maintain the appearance of non-partisanship, Merrick Garland has become an enabler of Trumpism."
A little overly generous I think - he doesn't want to deal with the monsters and instead is leaving it to somebody else to do.
elm
you don't have to pull your punches jeet