​Merrick Brian Garland (born November 13, 1952) is an American lawyer and jurist who has served as the 86th United States attorney general since 2021. He previously served as a circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit from 1997 to 2021. In 2016, President Barack Obama nominated Garland to the U.S. Supreme Court, but the Republican-led U.S. Senate did not hold a vote to confirm him. A native of the Chicago area, Garland attended Harvard University and Harvard Law School, where he was an editor of the Harvard Law Review. He served as a law clerk to Judge Henry Friendly of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and to U.S. Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan Jr., and then practiced corporate litigation at Arnold & Porter, after which he worked as a federal prosecutor in the United States Department of Justice, where he supervised the investigation and prosecution of the Oklahoma City bombers. President Bill Clinton appointed Garland to the D.C. Court of Appeals in 1997, and he served as its chief judge from 2013 to 2020. President Barack Obama, a Democrat, nominated Garland to serve as an associate justice of the Supreme Court in March 2016 to fill the vacancy created by the death of Antonin Scalia. However, the Republican Senate majority refused to hold a hearing or vote on his nomination. The unprecedented refusal of a Senate majority to consider a Supreme Court nomination was highly controversial. Garland's nomination lasted 293 days (the longest to date), and it expired on January 3, 2017, at the end of the 114th Congress. Eventually, President Donald Trump, a Republican, nominated Neil Gorsuch to the vacant seat, and the Republican Senate majority confirmed him. President Joe Biden nominated Garland as U.S. attorney general in January 2021. He was confirmed by the Senate in a 70–30 vote, and took office in March of that same year.

​‘Horribly Naive’: James Carville Attacks Merrick Garland Over Moving Slowly On Trump Prosecution
​Democratic strategist James Carville described Attorney General Merrick Garland as “horribly naive” for how long it took him to prosecute President-elect Donald Trump. Garland
 appointed special counsel Jack Smith in November 2022, days after Trump announced he would run for the presidency again, with the special counsel first indicting him in June 2023. Responding to a listener question on “Politics War Room” about how poorly history would perceive Garland “for failing to adequately investigate and indict Trump soon enough,” Carville argued the attorney general was overly “respectful of tradition” and “institutions.”  (MSN 11/21/24) READMORE>>>>>

​November 21, 2024: Carville: “I think that Merrick Garland is gonna go down as a man so respectful of tradition and so respectful of institutions that he was really — kind of strange to say this about a guy that was an appellate court judge, experienced and highly trained attorney — he was naive,” Carville said. “He was trying to play by one set of rules and everybody’s playing by another set of rules. And I don’t think he’s a bad guy. I think at the end of the day he’s just a horribly naive man that had no idea what he was up against.”

May 27, 2023: 2Paragraphs; ​Donald Trump Faces New Legal Threat at DOJ
Attorney General Merrick Garland defended the Trump protection in 2021, saying: “The job of the Justice Department and making decisions of law is not to back any administration, previous or present. Our job is to represent the American people. And our job in doing so is to ensure adherence to the rule of law, which is a fundamental requirement of a democracy, or a republic or a representative democracy.”

​Garland Names Special Counsel for Trump Inquiries​
​The attorney general named Jack Smith, a veteran prosecutor, to oversee the Mar-a-Lago documents and Jan. 6 investigations. The appointment is a way for the Justice Department to insulate the inquiries from political considerations. 11.18.22

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Some Republicans have signaled that they hope their probes will lead to impeachments — namely of President Joe Biden, Attorney General Merrick Garland and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. While in the minority the past two years, House Republicans introduced 14 impeachment resolutions, more than three times the number Democrats did in the first two years of Donald Trump’s presidency. 
However, Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., the favorite to become the next House speaker, has tried to tamp down on such talk. He has said impeachment should not be used as a political weapon, although he’s left the door open for it “if anyone ever rises to that occasion.”
Spectrum News NY1: ​Now in charge of House, Republicans expected to investigate Hunter Biden, Afghanistan withdrawal, more 11.16.22

Raw Story: ​Jim Jordan squirms as Maria Bartiromo urges him to impeach Merrick Garland 
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) refused to tell Fox News host Maria Bartiromo if he supports impeaching Attorney General Merrick Garland. 10.9.22

Oct 10, 2021: NPR: ​Rep. Schiff reveals impeachment regrets, tensions on Capitol Hill after insurrection
​When Maddow asked Schiff on Thursday whether Congress should also investigate the department’s seizing of the records, Schiff said it should, adding that Attorney General Merrick Garland would be questioned on the matter. He said he himself shouldn’t have a role in the investigation, given that his records were subpoenaed, but said other committees in Congress could exercise oversight.

The primary difference between intelligence and stupidity is that there are limits to intelligence.

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