Merrick Garland
As POLITICO reports:
Joe Biden has selected Judge Merrick Garland to serve as his attorney general, according to two people with knowledge of the decision.
Biden selected Garland over former Sen. Doug Jones (D-Ala.) and former deputy attorney general Sally Yates, choosing to elevate the chief judge of the United States Court of Appeals in D.C. to run the Justice Department…
…In a Republican-controlled Senate, Jones was viewed as the easiest candidate to get confirmed given his strong relationships across the aisle. Garland was also considered a risk in that it would be difficult to confirm a replacement for him on the appellate court.
But with Democrats expected to have won the majority with a pair of upset victories in Georgia, confirmation issues with other candidates largely dissipated. The announcement of the selection could come as early as Thursday, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) told reporters on Wednesday.
Call it karma. Call it poetic justice. Pretty soon, you can call it reality.
I was very much rooting for Attorney General Doug Jones, but this epic fuck-you selection makes me quite happy.
If Ossoff wins it will be an epic twist to Biden's selection process. Obviously Garland knows his way around the courthouse but does he have the chops to run a behemoth organization that initiates the investigations rather than resolve them. Interesting choice for sure.
I was hoping there would be a roll-out of an entire team … AG, Deputy, Asst AG heads of divisions, Solicitor General, and perhaps a new head for the Inspectors General.
Garland doesn't have to be an organizational manager — that's what a Dep. AG is for. AG is going to have to take a firm stand on independence of the White House and then work to make it so.
As long as he’s familiar and aggressive in enforcing laws against Sedition and Insurrection.