Garland On Top

When it came time for Joe Biden to pick an Attorney General, the front-runners for the job were former Acting Attorney General Sally Yates, who was a thorn in Trump's side in the early days of his term, and former U.S. Senator Doug Jones of Alabama, who has a strong civil rights record.  But Yates, apparently was too politically sensitive four such a choice, and Jones, of course, is a white male Southern Protestant who didn't check any "diversity" boxes. Merrick Garland seemed to be an appropriate choice; he's cordial, he's methodical, he's drama-free, and the post of Attorney General was a nice consolation prize for a man who had been rejected for a Supreme Court vacancy because the Senate Republican majority wouldn't grant him a hearing.

Nearly ten months after President Biden took office, though, it appeared that, up to that point at least, Biden had misjudged his man.  The U.S. House January 6 select committee cited Steve Bannon for contempt of Congress in refusing to honor a congressional subpoena to cooperate in their investigation of the insurrection, and their referral went to Garland's desk and stayed there for three weeks or so.  In all that time, liberals were frustrated that he hadn't moved to get Bannon indicted, insisting that Yates or Jones would have moved much more quickly.  It looked like Bannon was never going to be indicted 

Until yesterday.  A federal grand jury indicted Bannon on one count of refusing to answer a subpoena and one count of failing to provide documents to the select committee.  Bannon is expected to turn himself in on Monday. 

Merrick Garland got a lot of flak from the left for not moving faster enough against Bannon, but it is now obvious more than ever that he has been living up to his vow to go by procedure and make his decisions based on the merits of the law and not on the altar of politics.  He more or less got the green light from Tanya Chutkan's ruling against Trump's effort to protect his presidential papers in the National Archives, which made it easier to pursue the indictment.

Garland's statement on the indictment reads as follows: 

"Since my first day in office, I have promised Justice Department employees that together we would show the American people by word and deed that the Department adheres to the rule of law, follows the facts and the law, and pursues equal justice under the law. Today's charges reflect the Department's steadfast commitment to these principles."

The case in federal court is going to take awhile to reach a conclusion, and the January 6 select committee may be done before it's resolved.  But any witnesses called by the committee in the meantime - including former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows - now have incentive and reason to cooperate with the investigation.