On the recordMarch 10, 2021
I rise today in strong support of the nomination of Judge Merrick Garland to be United States Attorney General and to describe some of the greatest challenges confronting the U.S. Department of Justice. The DOJ, as it is often called, is unlike any other Federal Agency. It is charged with protecting the constitutional rights and civil rights of all Americans. The past 4 years, to put it mildly, broke the longstanding precedent that has enabled the Department of Justice to operate above the political fray. The Trump Justice Department joined a misguided lawsuit to take away healthcare coverage for tens of millions of Americans. The Trump Justice Department oversaw a cruel set of immigration policies that separated young children from their parents at our southern border and locked these children in cages. And the Trump Justice Department remained painfully silent as our Nation cried out for racial justice in the wake of the murder of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man. After the firing of Attorney General Sessions, the Attorney General of the United States became the Attorney General for Donald Trump. When our Nation's top law enforcement official becomes little more than a political fixture for the President, it erodes the principle of equal justice under the law and calls into question the mission of the Department.…





