Merrick Garland rapidly erasing Trump effect at Justice Department

[babylonsister]

8 hours ago - Politics & Policy
Merrick Garland rapidly erasing Trump effect at Justice Department
Zachary Basu


Attorney General Merrick Garland is quickly negating the Trump administration’s law enforcement legacy, dismaying conservatives with a burst of aggressive reversals and new policies.

Why it matters: As a former prosecutor and respected federal judge, Garland's devotion to the rule of law has always been core to his identity. That reputation has taken on new importance in his first 50 days on the job, after four years of allegations that Trump's DOJ was improperly politicized.

Attorney General Bill Barr played a central role in the Trump administration's most high-profile controversies, from undermining the Russia investigation to intervening in the cases of indicted Trump associates to ordering the forcible clearing of protesters in Lafayette Square Park.

DOJ's broad authority also overlaps with many of the issues at the top of President Biden's agenda, including restoring faith in government, promoting racial justice and police reform, and curbing gun violence.

snip//

Other major steps taken in Garland's first 50 days include:

"Pattern or practice" investigations into the Minneapolis and Louisville police departments, following the deaths last year of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.

A 30-day "expedited review" into how DOJ can better prosecute and track hate crimes amid a surge in violence against Asian Americans.

The revocation of a Trump-era policy that restricted federal funding for "sanctuary cities."
Responsibility for five of the six executive actions on gun control ordered by Biden.

more...

https://www.axios.com/merrick-garland-justice-department-giuliani-15af1522-83fd-43e3-9d9d-1331873c9058.html

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. This is great news! I expected nothing less from Garland. His ethics are part of his core. n/t

[abqtommy]

2. YAY!

[LetMyPeopleVote]

3. There are a ton of very dumb people to get rid of

[ananda]

4. I hate that euphemism "conservatives."

It makes their mean crazy antics and policies
sound normal.

Who cares if they're miffed? Garland has a lot
of their shitty mess to clean up.

[AZLD4Candidate]

9. Stateists and Dominionsts work better, but few understand the terms.

[OldBaldy1701E]

11. As far as I am concerned

Given their insane levels of support for that orange Hutt, 'insurrectionists' works just fine for me. Dominionists also works. How about 'insurrectional dominionists'?

[ananda]

12. IDiots!

Like

[DBoon]

19. RWNJs

Right Wing Nut Jobs does fine. They are both rigidly doctrinaire and crazy - crazy as in both detached from reality and completely agitated for no real reason.

[Hortensis]

5. Good. But Garland's #2, who'll run day-to-day operations, was confirmed April 20

even though nominated very early on by President Biden. Garland was sworn in "50 days" ago, 2 months after Biden. Those inexcusable delays are Republican obstruction and subversion.

Now that they're in, most of the corrupt Trump higher ups are finally being pushed out of the Biden administration, but "rapidly" only as that applies to their actions after finally being able to take office.

WaPo: Lisa Monaco will seek to restore Justice Dept. norms attacked by Trump. ...

Historically, the DAG is a critical but low-profile position — a kind of bureaucratic traffic cop overseeing the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Marshals Service, the Bureau of Prisons and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Often, the deputy attorney general tackles the problems and disagreements that cannot be solved by lower-level officials.

In recent years, however, the job has been anything but low profile. The Trump administration’s first deputy attorney general, Rod J. Rosenstein, oversaw Robert S. Mueller III’s special counsel investigation ... His successor, Jeffrey Rosen, was running the Justice Department in January of this year when Trump supporters launched a short-lived insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, in what many current and former government officials consider a major security and intelligence failure.

When she was President Obama's homeland security and counterterrorism advisor, he called her Dr. Doom "because every time he saw me coming, he knew something bad had happened."

[BobTheSubgenius]

6. The decrying of the politicization of the DOJ is both tiresome, and laughable.

These ridiculous assertions are typical of people given to massive transference.

[Aviation Pro]

7. Should have put him on SCOTUS

When you had the chance, you fucking turtle.

[Fritz Walter]

8. Hey, Yertle McTurtle! Bet you now wish you hadn't blocked his SCOTUS nomination in 2016!

Moscow Mitch and his ilk thought they could pack the court with conservative justices, and -- for a while -- they succeeded.

Now, the judge you blocked from being seated in the highest court of the land is now dismantling everything Bill Barrfbag tried to do, and you're getting a super-size serving of karma. Hope you gag on it!

[dobleremolque]

10. Could he spare some time for the farcical Arizona ballot "audit, I mean who knew

it was possible to violate a voter's rights AFTER the election is over? Arizona's Republican state senate has managed to.

[Silent3]

14. Sadly I don't know if anything short of a Constitutional amendment...

...can prevent another administration, especially with a compliant Congress, from easily corrupting the DoJ all over again.

[dlk]

15. Garland is really great!

And we can’t underestimate Lisa Monaco’s impact, either.

[gratuitous]

16. The Toady Show had an interview with President Biden

They had some excerpts this morning of his Q&A with Craig Melvin. Biden had to patiently and repeatedly explain to Melvin that the Justice Department is an independent arm of the government, and as President, he doesn't order them around. He had to say a couple of times that DOJ is not the president's personal law firm. Melvin didn't seem to get it.

Now, I don't have any opinion about Craig Melvin. Seems like a nice guy. But this to me was indicative of how fucked up the former guy made the forms and functions of government: Melvin seemed genuinely unaware that the Attorney General isn't the President's personal attorney, and DOJ wasn't there as a weapon for the President to use against his enemies.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

17. Good

Going to have to give the department a good scrubbing to get rid of the Trump stink.

[dlk]

18. Turning lemons into lemonade...