Senate confirms Biden AG and HUD selections

Merrick Garland (pictured) takes reins as attorney general; Ohio’s Marcia Fudge to lead Housing and Urban Development.

WASHINGTON — The Senate on Wednesday confirmed Merrick Garland to be the next U.S. attorney general with a strong bipartisan vote, placing the veteran judge in the post as President Joe Biden has vowed to restore the Justice Department’s reputation for independence.

Democrats have praised Garland, a federal appeals court judge who was snubbed by Republicans for a seat on the Supreme Court in 2016, as a highly qualified and honorable jurist who is uniquely qualified to lead the department after a tumultuous four years under former President

Donald Trump. Many Republicans praised him as well, saying he has the right record and temperament for the moment. The vote was 70-30.

Garland will now inherit a Justice Department embattled by a turbulent era under Trump, who insisted that the attorney general must be loyal to him personally, a position that battered the department’s reputation. In the last month of Trump’s presidency, Attorney General William Barr resigned after refuting Trump’s false claims that widespread electoral fraud had led to his defeat.

Trump’s pressure on officials, including on Barr and former Attorney General

Jeff Sessions over the department’s probe into his campaign’s ties to Russia, prompted abundant criticism from Democrats over what they saw as the politicizing of the nation’s top law enforcement agencies.

“America can breathe a sigh of relief that we’re going to have someone like Merrick Garland leading the Justice Department,” said Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., ahead of the vote.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell — who prevented Garland from becoming a Supreme Court Justice in 2016 when he blocked his nomination — said he was voting to confirm Garland because of his reputation.

“Let’s hope our incoming attorney general applies (his) no-nonsense approach to the serious challenges facing the Department of Justice and our nation,” McConnell said.

As Judge Merrick Garland prepares to take over the Justice Department, officials have already begun to reverse Trump-era policies denounced by Democrats.