Domestic terrorists, there’s a new sheriff in town
Sen. Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican, was one of those most responsible for the Capitol insurrection on Jan. 6, which resulted in the deaths of three police officers and the injuries of 140 others.
And now, he has the gall to claim he stands with the police. On Monday, questioning attorney general nominee Merrick Garland, Hawley declared that a months-long increase in crime has been accompanied by “increasing calls by some activists, including members of the United States Congress, to ‘defund the police.’ “Hawley, informing Garland that such calls send “the wrong message to law enforcement” and make them feel “under siege,” demanded Garland “tell me your position on defunding the police.”
Hawley, you’ll recall, is the guy who raised a fist of solidarity to the mob before the Capitol attack, and the guy whose homestate Kansas City Star charged that he “has blood on his hands in [the] Capitol coup attempt.”
Garland, who prosecuted the Oklahoma City bombing perpetrators before becoming a federal judge, fixed a steady gaze on Hawley. “As you no doubt know, President Biden has said he does not support defunding the police, and neither do I,” he said. “We saw how difficult the lives of police officers were in the body-cam videos we saw when they were defending the Capitol.”
But Hawley didn’t want to talk about the violence against police generated by his own attempt to overturn the election. He insisted that Garland talk about “assaults on federal property in places other than Washington” — specifically, during racial-justice protests — and whether those qualify as “domestic terrorism.”
Garland was not distracted by the seditionist’s sleight of hand. He explained that using violence “to disrupt democratic processes” (as occurred in the Capitol) is domestic terrorism, while attacking a courthouse at night (as occurred in Portland) is not. “Both are criminal, but one is a core attack on our democratic institutions.”
It was a clear message to the violent white supremacists and other domestic terrorists who thrived during the Trump years, most visibly in their attack on the Capitol last month: There’s a new sheriff in town. Garland vowed that domestic terrorism “will be my first priority” as attorney general and promised to “do everything in the power of the Justice Department” to stop it.
For four years, President Donald Trump railed about “law and order” while breaking the former and undermining the latter. In Garland, we see a restoration of actual law and order. Timothy McVeigh’s prosecutor has the backing of groups such as the Fraternal Order of Police, but he’s also determined to fight discrimination, as he explained during Monday’s hearing.
“I come from a family,” Garland said, his voice breaking, “where my grandparents fled antisemitism and persecution. The country took us in — and protected us.” With difficulty, he continued: “And I feel an obligation to the country to pay back, and this is the highest, best use of my own set of skills to pay back.”
Republicans shamefully denied Garland a hearing for nearly a year after President Barack Obama nominated him to the Supreme Court in 2016. It is testimony to the resilience of both Garland and the sorely tested institutions of government that he’s now poised to become the nation’s top law enforcement officer. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and even Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., signaled their support on Monday.
But the lineup of questioners facing Garland made it clear how fragile the restoration of the democratic order is. On the Judiciary Committee sit three senators who supported overturning the election, and others vying to win over Trump supporters for 2024 presidential runs.
Maybe Senate Republicans did Garland a favor when they robbed this good man of a Supreme Court seat, for now he’s getting a more important assignment: Defending democracy itself from Hawley, Cruz and mob rule.
Maybe Senate Republicans did Garland a favor when they robbed this good man of a Supreme Court seat. Now he’s getting a more important assignment.