Merrick Garland’s Epic Failure Costs Us All – Find Out How!

Deciding on the worst attorney general in U.S. history is a challenging task, given the plethora of candidates who have left their dubious marks on the role. This group, a true rogue’s gallery, includes figures like A. Mitchell Palmer, the architect of the first Red Scare that devastated the political left after World War I, and extends to Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III and William Pelham Barr, both of whom undermined the rule of law to aid Donald Trump.

While Merrick Garland might not possess the harmful traits of his predecessors, his name certainly belongs in the conversation. Future historians will likely remember Garland not as the committed public servant and impartial judge blocked from the Supreme Court by Mitch McConnell and other Senate Republicans, but as the Attorney General who, faced with Trump’s challenges, brought insufficient resolve, hastening America’s slide toward neo-fascism.

Upon his appointment as the leader of the DOJ, Garland was charged with one crucial task: to quickly organize a grand jury to delve into Trump’s involvement in the January 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection. This was a feat manageable by a third-year law student; yet, Garland fell short spectacularly.

Garland will be eternally marked by his failure to demonstrate the necessary courage and fortitude at a moment when stopping Trump was critical.

The evidence for a swift indictment was clear and plentiful. On that January day, millions saw Trump at the Ellipse, urging his followers to march to the Capitol and “fight like hell.” The ensuing violent attack was witnessed by an equally large audience. Even Mitch McConnell, despite his acquittal vote in Trump’s second impeachment trial in February 2021, admitted on the Senate floor that Trump had a significant role in instigating the events of January 6.

Rather than focusing on Trump and his top advisors, Garland opted to prosecute the lower-level participants of the insurrection. While he eventually charged over 1,500 individuals with federal crimes, his actions against Trump did not materialize until November 2022, when he appointed Jack Smith as a special counsel to investigate Trump’s role in the insurrection and his mishandling of classified documents after leaving office.

By that time, however, it was already too late.

Although Smith managed to secure an indictment against Trump in Washington D.C. for conspiracy, obstruction, and election interference on August 1, 2023, the Supreme Court, in July the following year, dismantled the indictment in Trump v. United States, a decision that provided Trump with broad and unprecedented immunity from criminal prosecution. Chief Justice John Roberts, a lifelong conservative who is mistakenly seen as a judicial moderate, authored what could be the worst ruling since the Dred Scott decision of 1857. Sean Wilenz harshly criticized the decision in The New York Review of Books, likening it to a judicial endorsement of authoritarianism akin to the pro-slavery tilt of Dred Scott.

Trump also faced charges in Florida related to the classified documents case, but this was halted by District Court Judge Aileen Mercedes Cannon, a Trump appointee with little experience, who came into the spotlight during the 2020 election preparations.

Alongside Garland, the Supreme Court, and Judge Cannon, President Joe Biden also bears some blame for not decisively countering Trump and his supporters. From the beginning, Biden should have aggressively targeted and weakened Trump’s base instead of advocating for a return to a so-called bipartisan normalcy. Most critically, Biden’s decision to run for a second term, despite clear signs of his diminishing capacity, left Vice President Kamala Harris with slim chances of defeating Trump in an election, especially with Biden’s approval ratings around 40%.

At the end of the day, the biggest regret will cling to Garland, who lacked the boldness necessary to confront Trump before his reactionary supporters could regroup and seize power.