Prez-elect Biden’s slate of nominees for the Justice Department revealed, with Judge Merrick Garland tapped for Attorney General

As reported in this new AP piece, “President-elect Joe Biden has selected Merrick Garland, a federal appeals court judge who in 2016 was snubbed by Republicans for a seat on the Supreme Court, as his attorney general, two people familiar with the selection process said Wednesday.”  Here is more on who is slated to help run a new Justice Department:

Biden is expected to announce Garland’s appointment on Thursday, along with other senior leaders of the department, including former homeland security adviser Lisa Monaco as deputy attorney general and former Justice Department civil rights chief Vanita Gupta as associate attorney general.  He will also name an assistant attorney general for civil rights, Kristen Clarke, the president of Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, an advocacy group.

Garland was selected over other finalists including Alabama Sen. Doug Jones and former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates.  The people familiar with the process spoke on condition of anonymity.  One said Biden regards Garland as an attorney general who can restore integrity to the Justice Department and as someone who, having served in the Justice Department under presidents of both political parties, will be respected by nonpartisan career staff.

If confirmed, Garland would confront immediate challenges, including an ongoing criminal tax investigation into Biden’s son, Hunter, as well as calls from many Democrats to pursue inquiries into Trump after he leaves office.  A special counsel investigation into the origins of the Russia probe also remains open, forcing a new attorney general to decide how to handle it and what to make public.  Garland would also inherit a Justice Department that has endured a tumultuous four years and would likely need to focus on not only civil rights issues and an overhaul of national policing policies after months of mass protests over the deaths of Black Americans at the hand of law enforcement.

It was unclear how Garland’s selection would be received by Black and Latino advocates who had advocated for a Black attorney general or for someone with a background in civil rights causes and criminal justice reform.  But the selection of Gupta and Clarke, two women with significant experience in civil rights, appeared designed to blunt those concerns and offered as a signal that progressive causes will be prioritized in the new administration….  Monaco brings to the department significant national security experience, including in cybersecurity — an especially urgent issue as the U.S. government confronts a devastating hack of federal agencies that officials have linked to Russia.

I have sensed that Garland’s record as a relative moderate on criminal justice issues while serving as a judge on the DC Circuit has led many criminal justice reform advocates to not be especially excited by the prospect he could become Attorney General.  But, as this AP article suggests, the naming of Vanita Gupta as associate attorney general should exciting CJ reformers.  In forthcoming confirmation hearing and in other setting, it will be very interesting to see what tone a future AG Garland and other new DOJ members will set as to criminal justice reform efforts generally and as to what sets of CJ issues may be initially given the most attention.