Attorney General Merrick Garland promised an independent Justice Department.
He addresses agency’s 115,000-plus workers
WASHINGTON — Taking the reins at the Justice Department, Attorney General Merrick Garland sought Thursday to assure career staffers that he would prioritize restoring the department’s reputation for political independence and ensuring equal justice.
“The only way we can succeed and retain the trust of the American people is to adhere to the norms that have become part of the DNA of every Justice Department employee,” Garland said in his first address to the department’s more than 115,000 employees.
“All of us are united by our commitment to the rule of law, and to seek an equal justice under law,” he said.
Garland signaled in his first address to staff — a formal, 10-minute speech inside the
Great Hall at Justice Department headquarters, speaking virtually to staff with about 30 people spread across the large room — the department would return to its normal traditions away from the political sphere. President Joe Biden has also insisted the same.
Try though he may to stay out of politics, Garland is facing some immediate political challenges, including overseeing the ongoing criminal tax investigation into Biden’s son, Hunter, and the investigations and prosecutions stemming from the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
The Justice Department also has an ongoing federal probe into the overseas and business dealings of the former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, which stalled last year over a dispute about investigative tactics as President Donald Trump unsuccessfully sought re-election. And separately, the special counsel investigation into the origins of the Russia probe, which shadowed Trump’s presidency for more than two years, remains ongoing. Garland will have to decide how to handle it and what to make public.
But the nation’s top law enforcement official vowed Thursday that he would prioritize ensuring the department return to prosecutorial norms and work to make the public confident in its independence to serve justice.