Garland selected as Justice leader
Biden says he will help depoliticize the agency
WILMINGTON, Del. — President-elect Joe Biden introduced his pick for the nation’s top law enforcement official on Thursday, turning to experienced judge Merrick Garland to help depoliticize the Justice Department and restore the rule of law after what the incoming president described as four years of lawlessness under President Donald Trump.
“The past four years we’ve had a president who’s made his contempt for our democracy, our Constitution, the rule of law, clear in everything he has done,” Biden said, vowing a dramatic shift in his administration. “More than anything, we need to restore the honor, the integrity, the independence of the Department of Justice that’s been so badly damaged.”
Biden vowed that as attorney general, Garland’s loyalty would rest not with the president, but with the law and Constitution.
“You don’t work for me,” Biden charged as he introduced Garland.
Facing the public for the first time at Biden’s side, Garland promised to restore an equal commitment to law and order and integrity to the nation’s top law enforcement agency, pointing to Wednesday’s assault on the Capitol as a consequence of failing to do so.
“As everyone who watched yesterday’s events in Washington now understands, if they did not understand before, the rule of law is not just some lawyers’ turn of phrase, it is the very foundation of our de
mocracy,” Garland said.
Biden also introduced three others for senior Justice Department leadership posts on Thursday, including Obama administration homeland security adviser Lisa Monaco as deputy attorney general and former Justice Department civil rights chief Vanita Gupta as associate attorney general, the No. 3 official. He also named an assistant attorney general for civil rights, Kristen Clarke, now the president of Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, an advocacy group.
The department is expected to change course dramatically under new leadership, including through a different approach to civil rights
issues and national policing policies.
Vice President-elect Kamala Harris addressed racial justice disparities Thursday, connecting them to this week’s storming of the Capitol.
She said that fixing the conditions that led to the Washington violence would require the new administration to understand “how to reform, how to transform, a justice system that does not work equally for all.”
“We witnessed two systems of justice when we saw one that let extremists storm the United States Capitol, and another that released tear gas on peaceful protesters last summer,” Harris added. “We know we should be better.”