Aaron (actually, Lisa) a part of me hates to acknowledge the truth in your piece. But the bottom line is that your thoughts are remarkably accurate and highly relevant.
I’m an attorney and I worked on the first part that you wrote about—the legal fight to have the DOJ release Bill Barr’s memo. I wrote an amicus brief opposing the DOJ’s efforts. I did that because I read the declarations (under oath) and the briefing of DOJ employees under Garland. They were egregiously deceptive. They even outright lied to judges to cover up evidence that Bill Barr had lied to Congress.
I’ve also worked opposite the DOJ (under Barr and under Garland) in multiple other cases in which DOJ attorneys were guilty of the same or similar conduct. Lying about evidence and knowingly violating federal law is all too common among DOJ attorneys. It is so common that it even undermines how MANY federal judges purport to fulfill their duties to the American public as public servants in FOIA cases.
All too often, DOJ attorneys lie in FOIA cases to cover up evidence of government employee misconduct. I have seen multiple federal judges lie, knowingly violate federal laws, and violate our Constitution to help cover up evidence of DOJ attorneys’ misconduct.
I have seen such egregious misconduct by at least two federal judges who were high-level DOJ attorneys (Judge Rudolph Contreras in DC and Judge Beth Phillips in the Western District of Missouri (Kansas City)). I’ve seen a lot of judges subsequently lie and knowingly violate federal laws and our Constitution to help cover up evidence of those two judges (and other judges) lying and knowingly violating federal law--to help cover up evidence that DOJ attorneys lied and illegally concealed evidence.
Regarding the DOJ “prosecution” of Trump, I think you’re also right. We’ve all heard of “show trials” in the past. It seems the DOJ “prosecution” of Trump was just another show trial of a different sort. It was a show for us, the American public, to create the appearance of a prosecution without any real prospect of success.
The “Institutionalists” at the DOJ and on federal courts too often prevail in ensuring that so much of what we see is just a show—literally, at best, the mere appearance of propriety without the substance of justice.
I, too, would like to protect the institutions at issue (the DOJ and the judiciary). I'm not against "the DOJ" or "the judiciary." I'm against particular DOJ attorneys and particular judges who (to deceive and defraud the American public) lie, knowingly violate federal law, knowingly violate our Constitution and commit federal offenses. Their crimes included the same crimes for which the DOJ was prosecuting Trump. They (the DOJ attorneys and the judges) knew their conduct was criminal.
And the SCOTUS isn’t helping by lying and misrepresenting and basing decisions on lies and misdirection, ignoring stare decisis and legal principles of interpretation.
That's why when I hear the word transparency, I choke on my corn flakes. Transparency is an illusion. Garland is a Federalist. He's warm milk toast. He'd rather be liked, than do his damn job. I hope he has a future at the Hoover Institute. Where politicians watch their careers die.
This perfectly articulates Garland's blame. I don't believe he is corrupt, just protecting the Institutions as written here. When we needed swift and decisive justice. Now, the DOJ he worked so hard to protect will be turned into the very weapon used to destroy the rule of law. 💔
This problem of government employees protecting "their" institutions instead of our Constitution is much deeper and broader than Garland and the DOJ. Read the SCOTUS opinion in Trump v. United States. So much of it is about helping federal employees conceal evidence of their own (or maybe a spouse's) complicity in Trump's misconduct. The SCOTUS majority obstructed justice in multiple ways to help conceal evidence of abuses of power beyond Trump's. That's necessarily part of the point of the SCOTUS majority's pretense that Trump cannot be prosecuted for "official" conduct. The government employees (including DOJ employees) that Trump "officially" used to commit his crimes can continue to conceal evidence of their misconduct.
I agree completely. Garland wasn't the only one by far, but he was heading the Department of Justice. He had the best chance to hold the criminal(s) accountable.
I believe he is corrupt, not in the sense of being bought but in the sense of being owned by the Right for a long time. A disastrous appointment and Biden has to bear the blame.
Well, you may be correct, he probably is owned by the Right. He was definitely a disasterous appointment. I do blame Biden because I think he was being a politician and picked Garland for the reason he wouldn't go after trump right away. Biden is a politician through and through and actually thought he was going to unite us with his weak approach.
What we really needed was an AG who would start with trump's arrest on 1/21/21. That was the only way it might have prevented this. And even then, who knows? It always comes down to the voters and I just don't know if there was any way to prevent this.
We needed an AG with a spine and a real commitment to the rule of law, not a complicit right-wing stooge. A bulldog of an AG might have been able to put Trump and his enablers in jail. The members of Congress who were complicit in the coup attempt are now laughing because they all got away with it, and the coup has succeeded. We'll never know if this could have been prevented. My heart is breaking, and I loathe Garland, and Biden for appointing him to begin with and then not firing him when his complicity became obvious.
I really hope the DOJ is going to have something serious to say at Trump's sentencing in NY for his convictions there later this month. And I hope AG Garland makes the decision to continue Trump's prosecution by the DOJ even though Trump will be a sitting president. It's only because of mere "policy" that the DOJ refrains from such action. But every DOJ attorney and every federal judge swore to "support and defend the Constitution" against "all enemies, foreign and domestic" and "bear true faith and allegiance" to our Constitution, not any mere policy. 5 U.S.C. 3331. No mere policy is more important than our Constitution.
If Trump wants to fire Jack Smith, then the DOJ should make him actually do it. Meanwhile, the DOJ should work harder than ever to support and defend our Constitution. Refraining from prosecuting a sitting president is based on the constitutional requirement to impeach a sitting president before commencing a criminal prosecution. That does not apply here. The voters removed Trump from office before the prosecution started.
When Trump is sworn in, he's going to put his hand on a Bible and swear "I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States" and swear that I "will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution." Article II requires that oath. Then, it requires that the president "shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed." Article VI emphasized that "the supreme Law of the Land" regarding this issue is, first, our "Constitution" and second, "the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance" of our Constitution. So let's see how faithful Trump is to his oath.
We should not let John Roberts and the other five off the hook. In the immunity case, SCOTUS could have let the appellate court's decision stand, and Chutkan could have begun the trial in the spring of 2024. trump would have been convicted before the election, and January 6th would have been remembered correctly as the insurrection that he incited.
Roberts has always believed in expansive power for the president, and he created a ruling out of thin air, with no relationship to the constitution. Now a president can commit crimes without consequence., and you can bet trump will use this to his personal advantage, because he doesn't give a shit about the country. He cares about enriching himself.
I've read opinions by Chief Justice Roberts emphasizing the importance of "confidence" in courts. For decades, I believed such judicial statements meant he and other justices always did and would work to ensure we had good cause for such confidence. More recently, I've come to realize that he meant "confidence" as in "confidence game" and "confidence man." All too often these days, I see Chief Justice Roberts, Justice Alito, Justice Thomas and Justice Gorsuch as total con men conning the American public with lofty language while robbing and defrauding us of our rights and liberty.
Yes...they could have upheld the 14th Amendment and, as an insurrectionist, Trump wouldn't have been able to ever hold office again. Lost opportunities, damn it. Now we will all pay for negligence and apathy.
Unfortunately, the SCOTUS majority is guilty of far worse than mere apathy or even negligence. Their opinions explicitly promote and encourage (and help conceal evidence of) criminal abuses of power by the president and other federal employees. They actively encouraged future sedition and insurrection by people even more dangerous than Trump. It was surreal reading an opinion by Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh and Barrett pretending that insurrection was an "official" and even a "core constitutional" function. They literally used those words to refer to Trump's conduct on and around Jan. 6.
Sorry, Mr. Jordan....I was unclear about to whom I was attributing the negligence and apathy. I was referring to "we citizens" who have only ourselves to blame for not paying attention to the doings of our important institutions and not voting (too many people do not vote--we must change that attitude). We need to start paying attention to who is doing (or not doing) their job; who is or is not ( or at least trying) to fulfill promises made during campaigns. We are a lazy electorate.
Mitch McConnell holds much blame for the rise of trump, and the failure to hold him accountable for sure, beginning with stealing the SCOTUS seat Garland was nominated for. But, Merrick Garland had the opportunity in 2021, after McConnell's damage, to hold trump to account, and all of the criminals in our congress who helped him trample our laws and institutions. He chose not to do it.
Thank you for the thoughtful and factual report on Merrick Garland's performance as Attorney General. I have withheld my initial impression of Garland because although it may be apt, it is insulting. But, here goes. You use the word "dithering" which has described Garland's mode of approach for years. He has appeared (to me) like an old auntie who manages to keep her affairs in order but to whom no one would ever turn to for advice. I always held out the hope that he may have had a strategy that would pay off, like getting all of his ducks in a row so that he had a clear view of the target and could take perfect aim. That hope was (continually totally dashed.
I totally agree. It couldn’t be said any better. Merrick Garland is to blame for Trump not facing the justice he rightly deserved. He handed him his victory back to the White House on Election Day and because of his dragging his feet to hold Trump accountable and has given him the chance to destroy our democracy, the rule of law, and to seek his revenge and retribution against his perceived enemies.
There is enough blame to go around to many many people who protected trump either because they saw it as a way to protect institutions or because they saw trump as something he was not and never had been--a hero and a strong, smart person. He now will probably have the opportunity to add at least another one of his "followers/fans" to the supreme court and the rule of law will just fly out the window. But, trump will never get the punishment he deserves, which as I see it is not to be in prison but to be in a mental institution for surely no sane person would be as evil as he is.
I agree with your points. It just doesn’t feel helpful at this point to look at what should have been done or what could have been done. What matters is how we deal with a possible Judge Cannon - or some other toady who will be worse than her - as AG for the next 4 years.
We will deal with it by watching in horror as the worst happens. He did not run for the office of US President, he ran as a fascist dictator, and was elected as such. Believe him when he showed us who he is. With immunity from the highest court, all levers of power on his side, and the ability to silence a free press, it will be much longer than 4 years we will be 'dealing' with it.
Ellen, I beg to differ. Lisa raises very valid points. The problem with the DOJ is much deeper than any one AG. It is an institutional problem (see my separate comment). It needs to be addressed as an institutional problem, not as a partisan problem.
Not looking at how we got to where we are is never helpful. You can’t chart a course of action for the now and the future if you don’t look at the past and at who is responsible.
We can’t forget that Biden picked Garland and then didn’t replace him when it was exceedingly obvious Garland was allowing trump to fully escape legal accountability.
Garland’s actions severely damaged America’s reputation across the globe, proved repeatedly that rich, white guys (trump, kuchner, bannon, musk, etc) are immune from legal accountability - even the one who literally attempted a coup and who daily foments violent threats against military and government officials still in office. Garland’s actions eroded Americans trust in our DOJ. He set up the once revered institution to be used as trump’s personal retribution machine.
(Initially I thought Garland’s actions were due to first, timidity and then, incompetence but several years ago I quit giving him the benefit of the doubt and that made it obvious to me that he is fully complicit in returning trump to the WH.)
Biden was the absolute wrong choice ifor 2020. We desperately needed someone who fully understood the dire threats we were facing and had the fire and moral courage to take it all on with the urgency it required. Pelosi, the DNC & DCCC gave us Biden, playing a bullshit junior high school level game of ego, quid pro quo and agreeing with Biden’s whining “but it’s my turn!” (He even said that in an interview before the 2020 election.) The Corporate Democrats (Pelosi, Schumer, Jeffries, Nadler, Harrison, etc) did nothing to hold trump accountable and when it was obvious to them long before the public saw how much Biden had declined they worked to shelter him from facing the truth and us from finding out. Instead of confronting him and demanding he step down for the good of the country they not only protected him and indulged his, his family’s and his handler’s delusions they backed him running again! It was only after his decline was on full display at the debate that they acted to make him step down.
They all bear equal blame with Garland for what is about to happen to America, to all the people who will be abused, attacked and destroyed, to every single person who will end up in one of miller’s camps and for the collective demoralization of everyone who fought like hell to not end up in a fascist run theocracy.
Biden was the finest president since FDR. He restored a lot of the government structures that we lost with Reagan. The press did a horrible job of reporting on his achievements. The inflation of covid and Russia hit the entire world. Our economy alone was the envy of the world. No recession. Our stock market didn’t regress. No reporting on either. All for naught.
And Biden was trying to model a completely independent DOJ. One wonders if it needs to be spun off, staffed and set up more like the FBI or the CIA or something. Something to figure out later. So many fires.
You are right, Biden picked Garland and did not fire him. I also suspect the two of them agreed not to have trump immediately investigated and prosecuted. It's likely why Biden picked Garland. But Joe Biden did a lot of good over the past 4 years. His problem was he thought he could use all the old tools to unite our country. He thought he was playing the politics of old when both parties worked across the isle. He thought he could enact the old economic policies that built the middle class and shiw rhe ones who voted against him that it would work. He underestimated the maga influence on the GOP. He is guilty of trying to win them over, and in a decent world where truth still exists, he would have been able to do it.
Thank you for your reply. To me, Biden living in the past is exactly why he was the wrong choice. He lives in the past and was when he was chosen - it’s not like that was a surprise to anybody. He could never face the in-his-face fact that the Republican Party willingly became the Republican Fascist Party. He frequently praised McConnell’s character. Instead of taking trump seriously he liked to joke about him - calling him “the other guy” to get laughs. You don’t joke about a fascist intent on taking over the government - and who had tried to do so! When Biden put on the MAGA hat for laughs during the Harris campaign I thought his keepers need to keep him out of sight” or better yet, make him step down so Harris runs things between then and Jan 21st. Biden is out of touch and it cost us dearly.
You aren’t wrong. It was time in 2016 to turn over the lead to the younger generation of Democrats. But, we didn't do it.. Neither democratic candidate in 2016 or 2020 was my choice, but we go with what we got. I also blame Biden for choosing to run for re-election at all. He should have only run for the one term.
Now it's too late to turn it over to the younger generation of Democrats. I at least hope we allow them to lead the resistance.
Remember when he said he would only serve one term, that he would be “the bridge President”? He has a massive ego and that combined with his belief that Obama cheated him “out of his turn” by choosing Clinton to run concretized his refusal to give up the power, influence and quite nice perks of the Presidency. He’d forgotten that he publicly said he wasn’t running because his son had just died. Plus, no one is owed the job! I’m pretty tired of the way the party leadership always passes the job on to the next person in line. If we ever get to vote again, besides remaking the Democratic Party from the inside out and getting rid of the fossilized Old Guard (meaning their ideas & being Coporate Democrats although, they are a gerontocracy), we need to have robust primaries every four years. Period. No more assuming the current President or VP automatically gets the nod.
I too hope the younger generation will led the resistance - like AOC, Buttigieg, Warnock, Ossof & others.
Biden is an asshole for appointing Garland and not doing a damn thing to get rid of DeJoy. He never fought for reproductive rights or for voting rights. I'm tired of hearing about how wonderful Biden was.
I mean, I respect people’s right to believe that about Biden & say so but I’ll never agree. Leaving DeJoy in place was another deliberate disaster of his own making. I don’t think he cared about the USPS being dismantled and having their rep destroyed. After all, when was the last time Biden opened his own mail?
Biden is an old fart living in the past. I am 74, a few months shy of 75, and claim the right to say that about him. He was also responsible for putting Boy Clarence on the Supreme Court, which was and is unforgiveable. Biden has never grasped that fascism was on the way.
He couldn’t remove DeJoy. Look at how the process works for USPS leadership. He did his best, appointed people when he could, but the indirect leadership style is why he was totally stymied.
I hope she is taking steps to preserve her safety & freedom. I also hope Leticia James and Alvin Bragg are too. All the brave men and women who actually stood up and did something are in danger. 💔
The one saving grace is that they operate under the New York system, where the Orange Valkyries' writ doesn't run as well as it does in...say... Florida
Her trist was not illegal but was a lapse of judgement; I don’t believe Judge Scott McAfee got it right with his harsh terminology “an odor of mendacity remains,” which became a quotable quote for the media and the defense. People are human (He who is without sin cast the first stone), but I wish they had thought this through before taking action.
We would have been better off to do what Brazil did, but I don't know that it would have helped. Would some other MAGA have filled the void if Trump were convicted? The Confederacy has arisen and Lincoln's work is effectively negated.
“Actually Lisa” you are the first post I’ve read on Substack that holds the whole bag of shit responsible for Trump’s win. I’m nauseated and trying to stop crying because in my heart Joe Biden and Merrick Garland are ultimately responsible for losing our democracy. Along with an eye opening corrupt judiciary, we all know about SCOTUS. But all these heinous criminal judges sitting in judgement of their own crimes is one big circle jerk. My faith in America is shaken to the foundations of my soul. I won’t recover.
Thank you for post this is where the real truth lies. It’s the last chance we’ll have to tell it.
Aaron (actually, Lisa) a part of me hates to acknowledge the truth in your piece. But the bottom line is that your thoughts are remarkably accurate and highly relevant.
I’m an attorney and I worked on the first part that you wrote about—the legal fight to have the DOJ release Bill Barr’s memo. I wrote an amicus brief opposing the DOJ’s efforts. I did that because I read the declarations (under oath) and the briefing of DOJ employees under Garland. They were egregiously deceptive. They even outright lied to judges to cover up evidence that Bill Barr had lied to Congress.
I’ve also worked opposite the DOJ (under Barr and under Garland) in multiple other cases in which DOJ attorneys were guilty of the same or similar conduct. Lying about evidence and knowingly violating federal law is all too common among DOJ attorneys. It is so common that it even undermines how MANY federal judges purport to fulfill their duties to the American public as public servants in FOIA cases.
All too often, DOJ attorneys lie in FOIA cases to cover up evidence of government employee misconduct. I have seen multiple federal judges lie, knowingly violate federal laws, and violate our Constitution to help cover up evidence of DOJ attorneys’ misconduct.
I have seen such egregious misconduct by at least two federal judges who were high-level DOJ attorneys (Judge Rudolph Contreras in DC and Judge Beth Phillips in the Western District of Missouri (Kansas City)). I’ve seen a lot of judges subsequently lie and knowingly violate federal laws and our Constitution to help cover up evidence of those two judges (and other judges) lying and knowingly violating federal law--to help cover up evidence that DOJ attorneys lied and illegally concealed evidence.
Regarding the DOJ “prosecution” of Trump, I think you’re also right. We’ve all heard of “show trials” in the past. It seems the DOJ “prosecution” of Trump was just another show trial of a different sort. It was a show for us, the American public, to create the appearance of a prosecution without any real prospect of success.
The “Institutionalists” at the DOJ and on federal courts too often prevail in ensuring that so much of what we see is just a show—literally, at best, the mere appearance of propriety without the substance of justice.
It's just chilling to imagine how much worse it will become.
Thanks for giving us names.
I, too, would like to protect the institutions at issue (the DOJ and the judiciary). I'm not against "the DOJ" or "the judiciary." I'm against particular DOJ attorneys and particular judges who (to deceive and defraud the American public) lie, knowingly violate federal law, knowingly violate our Constitution and commit federal offenses. Their crimes included the same crimes for which the DOJ was prosecuting Trump. They (the DOJ attorneys and the judges) knew their conduct was criminal.
Lisa does excellent work; her writing is always clear on point and often witty.
I enjoy reading Lisa's contribution to Public Notice.
And the SCOTUS isn’t helping by lying and misrepresenting and basing decisions on lies and misdirection, ignoring stare decisis and legal principles of interpretation.
Even downthread:
https://www.publicnotice.co/p/merrick-garland-failures-explained/comment/76167065?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=clhiz
Good sources, thank you!
Jack's substack (Black Collar Crime) has plenty to say about the Sh*tshowCOTUS.
Aaron didn’t write it.
You’re right! Thank you! And I thank Lisa!
I did edit it! 😊 But all credit to Lisa.
That's why when I hear the word transparency, I choke on my corn flakes. Transparency is an illusion. Garland is a Federalist. He's warm milk toast. He'd rather be liked, than do his damn job. I hope he has a future at the Hoover Institute. Where politicians watch their careers die.
Holy smokes.
This perfectly articulates Garland's blame. I don't believe he is corrupt, just protecting the Institutions as written here. When we needed swift and decisive justice. Now, the DOJ he worked so hard to protect will be turned into the very weapon used to destroy the rule of law. 💔
This problem of government employees protecting "their" institutions instead of our Constitution is much deeper and broader than Garland and the DOJ. Read the SCOTUS opinion in Trump v. United States. So much of it is about helping federal employees conceal evidence of their own (or maybe a spouse's) complicity in Trump's misconduct. The SCOTUS majority obstructed justice in multiple ways to help conceal evidence of abuses of power beyond Trump's. That's necessarily part of the point of the SCOTUS majority's pretense that Trump cannot be prosecuted for "official" conduct. The government employees (including DOJ employees) that Trump "officially" used to commit his crimes can continue to conceal evidence of their misconduct.
I agree completely. Garland wasn't the only one by far, but he was heading the Department of Justice. He had the best chance to hold the criminal(s) accountable.
I believe he is corrupt, not in the sense of being bought but in the sense of being owned by the Right for a long time. A disastrous appointment and Biden has to bear the blame.
Well, you may be correct, he probably is owned by the Right. He was definitely a disasterous appointment. I do blame Biden because I think he was being a politician and picked Garland for the reason he wouldn't go after trump right away. Biden is a politician through and through and actually thought he was going to unite us with his weak approach.
What we really needed was an AG who would start with trump's arrest on 1/21/21. That was the only way it might have prevented this. And even then, who knows? It always comes down to the voters and I just don't know if there was any way to prevent this.
We needed an AG with a spine and a real commitment to the rule of law, not a complicit right-wing stooge. A bulldog of an AG might have been able to put Trump and his enablers in jail. The members of Congress who were complicit in the coup attempt are now laughing because they all got away with it, and the coup has succeeded. We'll never know if this could have been prevented. My heart is breaking, and I loathe Garland, and Biden for appointing him to begin with and then not firing him when his complicity became obvious.
I really hope the DOJ is going to have something serious to say at Trump's sentencing in NY for his convictions there later this month. And I hope AG Garland makes the decision to continue Trump's prosecution by the DOJ even though Trump will be a sitting president. It's only because of mere "policy" that the DOJ refrains from such action. But every DOJ attorney and every federal judge swore to "support and defend the Constitution" against "all enemies, foreign and domestic" and "bear true faith and allegiance" to our Constitution, not any mere policy. 5 U.S.C. 3331. No mere policy is more important than our Constitution.
If Trump wants to fire Jack Smith, then the DOJ should make him actually do it. Meanwhile, the DOJ should work harder than ever to support and defend our Constitution. Refraining from prosecuting a sitting president is based on the constitutional requirement to impeach a sitting president before commencing a criminal prosecution. That does not apply here. The voters removed Trump from office before the prosecution started.
When Trump is sworn in, he's going to put his hand on a Bible and swear "I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States" and swear that I "will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution." Article II requires that oath. Then, it requires that the president "shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed." Article VI emphasized that "the supreme Law of the Land" regarding this issue is, first, our "Constitution" and second, "the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance" of our Constitution. So let's see how faithful Trump is to his oath.
My eye is pretty jaundiced from how faithful he was to it last time.
I agree. I did not imply any optimism, only a desire for transparency.
We should not let John Roberts and the other five off the hook. In the immunity case, SCOTUS could have let the appellate court's decision stand, and Chutkan could have begun the trial in the spring of 2024. trump would have been convicted before the election, and January 6th would have been remembered correctly as the insurrection that he incited.
Roberts has always believed in expansive power for the president, and he created a ruling out of thin air, with no relationship to the constitution. Now a president can commit crimes without consequence., and you can bet trump will use this to his personal advantage, because he doesn't give a shit about the country. He cares about enriching himself.
I've read opinions by Chief Justice Roberts emphasizing the importance of "confidence" in courts. For decades, I believed such judicial statements meant he and other justices always did and would work to ensure we had good cause for such confidence. More recently, I've come to realize that he meant "confidence" as in "confidence game" and "confidence man." All too often these days, I see Chief Justice Roberts, Justice Alito, Justice Thomas and Justice Gorsuch as total con men conning the American public with lofty language while robbing and defrauding us of our rights and liberty.
Yes...they could have upheld the 14th Amendment and, as an insurrectionist, Trump wouldn't have been able to ever hold office again. Lost opportunities, damn it. Now we will all pay for negligence and apathy.
Unfortunately, the SCOTUS majority is guilty of far worse than mere apathy or even negligence. Their opinions explicitly promote and encourage (and help conceal evidence of) criminal abuses of power by the president and other federal employees. They actively encouraged future sedition and insurrection by people even more dangerous than Trump. It was surreal reading an opinion by Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh and Barrett pretending that insurrection was an "official" and even a "core constitutional" function. They literally used those words to refer to Trump's conduct on and around Jan. 6.
Dear God!!! Yes, I remember that. Outrageous.
Sorry, Mr. Jordan....I was unclear about to whom I was attributing the negligence and apathy. I was referring to "we citizens" who have only ourselves to blame for not paying attention to the doings of our important institutions and not voting (too many people do not vote--we must change that attitude). We need to start paying attention to who is doing (or not doing) their job; who is or is not ( or at least trying) to fulfill promises made during campaigns. We are a lazy electorate.
Thank you Patt. I forgot to mention Roberts and his fellow five trump lapdogs who share responsibility for putting trump back in the WH.
and Trump will also try to exact revenge for his imagined slights and grievances.
You mean Mitch McConnell
He refused to let Trump be convicted in both of his impeachment trials
Mitch McConnell holds much blame for the rise of trump, and the failure to hold him accountable for sure, beginning with stealing the SCOTUS seat Garland was nominated for. But, Merrick Garland had the opportunity in 2021, after McConnell's damage, to hold trump to account, and all of the criminals in our congress who helped him trample our laws and institutions. He chose not to do it.
Thank you for the thoughtful and factual report on Merrick Garland's performance as Attorney General. I have withheld my initial impression of Garland because although it may be apt, it is insulting. But, here goes. You use the word "dithering" which has described Garland's mode of approach for years. He has appeared (to me) like an old auntie who manages to keep her affairs in order but to whom no one would ever turn to for advice. I always held out the hope that he may have had a strategy that would pay off, like getting all of his ducks in a row so that he had a clear view of the target and could take perfect aim. That hope was (continually totally dashed.
100% correct. History will not be kind to Mr. Garland.
Depends what the Heritage Foundation manages to do to the Library of Congress over the next 4+ years ...
Exactly! We kept waiting for Garland to DO SOMETHING, but he didn’t!!!!
Garland didn’t bring a knife to a gunfight … he brought a plume.
I totally agree. It couldn’t be said any better. Merrick Garland is to blame for Trump not facing the justice he rightly deserved. He handed him his victory back to the White House on Election Day and because of his dragging his feet to hold Trump accountable and has given him the chance to destroy our democracy, the rule of law, and to seek his revenge and retribution against his perceived enemies.
Garland's lack of action was deliberate. He is a stooge and Biden was incredibly stupid to appoint him.
We elected Trump again, knowing what he is, knowing what he plans. We are to blame. Everyone else is just supporting actors.
There is enough blame to go around to many many people who protected trump either because they saw it as a way to protect institutions or because they saw trump as something he was not and never had been--a hero and a strong, smart person. He now will probably have the opportunity to add at least another one of his "followers/fans" to the supreme court and the rule of law will just fly out the window. But, trump will never get the punishment he deserves, which as I see it is not to be in prison but to be in a mental institution for surely no sane person would be as evil as he is.
Probably two....
Excellent article.
I agree with your points. It just doesn’t feel helpful at this point to look at what should have been done or what could have been done. What matters is how we deal with a possible Judge Cannon - or some other toady who will be worse than her - as AG for the next 4 years.
We will deal with it by watching in horror as the worst happens. He did not run for the office of US President, he ran as a fascist dictator, and was elected as such. Believe him when he showed us who he is. With immunity from the highest court, all levers of power on his side, and the ability to silence a free press, it will be much longer than 4 years we will be 'dealing' with it.
Welcome to the Fourth Reich, courtesy of American idiots.
Ellen, I beg to differ. Lisa raises very valid points. The problem with the DOJ is much deeper than any one AG. It is an institutional problem (see my separate comment). It needs to be addressed as an institutional problem, not as a partisan problem.
Not looking at how we got to where we are is never helpful. You can’t chart a course of action for the now and the future if you don’t look at the past and at who is responsible.
We can’t forget that Biden picked Garland and then didn’t replace him when it was exceedingly obvious Garland was allowing trump to fully escape legal accountability.
Garland’s actions severely damaged America’s reputation across the globe, proved repeatedly that rich, white guys (trump, kuchner, bannon, musk, etc) are immune from legal accountability - even the one who literally attempted a coup and who daily foments violent threats against military and government officials still in office. Garland’s actions eroded Americans trust in our DOJ. He set up the once revered institution to be used as trump’s personal retribution machine.
(Initially I thought Garland’s actions were due to first, timidity and then, incompetence but several years ago I quit giving him the benefit of the doubt and that made it obvious to me that he is fully complicit in returning trump to the WH.)
Biden was the absolute wrong choice ifor 2020. We desperately needed someone who fully understood the dire threats we were facing and had the fire and moral courage to take it all on with the urgency it required. Pelosi, the DNC & DCCC gave us Biden, playing a bullshit junior high school level game of ego, quid pro quo and agreeing with Biden’s whining “but it’s my turn!” (He even said that in an interview before the 2020 election.) The Corporate Democrats (Pelosi, Schumer, Jeffries, Nadler, Harrison, etc) did nothing to hold trump accountable and when it was obvious to them long before the public saw how much Biden had declined they worked to shelter him from facing the truth and us from finding out. Instead of confronting him and demanding he step down for the good of the country they not only protected him and indulged his, his family’s and his handler’s delusions they backed him running again! It was only after his decline was on full display at the debate that they acted to make him step down.
They all bear equal blame with Garland for what is about to happen to America, to all the people who will be abused, attacked and destroyed, to every single person who will end up in one of miller’s camps and for the collective demoralization of everyone who fought like hell to not end up in a fascist run theocracy.
Biden was the finest president since FDR. He restored a lot of the government structures that we lost with Reagan. The press did a horrible job of reporting on his achievements. The inflation of covid and Russia hit the entire world. Our economy alone was the envy of the world. No recession. Our stock market didn’t regress. No reporting on either. All for naught.
And Biden was trying to model a completely independent DOJ. One wonders if it needs to be spun off, staffed and set up more like the FBI or the CIA or something. Something to figure out later. So many fires.
We will have to respectfully disagree on your belief that “Biden was the finest president since FDR”. I agree about the press though.
You are right, Biden picked Garland and did not fire him. I also suspect the two of them agreed not to have trump immediately investigated and prosecuted. It's likely why Biden picked Garland. But Joe Biden did a lot of good over the past 4 years. His problem was he thought he could use all the old tools to unite our country. He thought he was playing the politics of old when both parties worked across the isle. He thought he could enact the old economic policies that built the middle class and shiw rhe ones who voted against him that it would work. He underestimated the maga influence on the GOP. He is guilty of trying to win them over, and in a decent world where truth still exists, he would have been able to do it.
Any good that Biden did has been negated by Garland's complicity in Trump's re-election.
Thank you for your reply. To me, Biden living in the past is exactly why he was the wrong choice. He lives in the past and was when he was chosen - it’s not like that was a surprise to anybody. He could never face the in-his-face fact that the Republican Party willingly became the Republican Fascist Party. He frequently praised McConnell’s character. Instead of taking trump seriously he liked to joke about him - calling him “the other guy” to get laughs. You don’t joke about a fascist intent on taking over the government - and who had tried to do so! When Biden put on the MAGA hat for laughs during the Harris campaign I thought his keepers need to keep him out of sight” or better yet, make him step down so Harris runs things between then and Jan 21st. Biden is out of touch and it cost us dearly.
You aren’t wrong. It was time in 2016 to turn over the lead to the younger generation of Democrats. But, we didn't do it.. Neither democratic candidate in 2016 or 2020 was my choice, but we go with what we got. I also blame Biden for choosing to run for re-election at all. He should have only run for the one term.
Now it's too late to turn it over to the younger generation of Democrats. I at least hope we allow them to lead the resistance.
Remember when he said he would only serve one term, that he would be “the bridge President”? He has a massive ego and that combined with his belief that Obama cheated him “out of his turn” by choosing Clinton to run concretized his refusal to give up the power, influence and quite nice perks of the Presidency. He’d forgotten that he publicly said he wasn’t running because his son had just died. Plus, no one is owed the job! I’m pretty tired of the way the party leadership always passes the job on to the next person in line. If we ever get to vote again, besides remaking the Democratic Party from the inside out and getting rid of the fossilized Old Guard (meaning their ideas & being Coporate Democrats although, they are a gerontocracy), we need to have robust primaries every four years. Period. No more assuming the current President or VP automatically gets the nod.
I too hope the younger generation will led the resistance - like AOC, Buttigieg, Warnock, Ossof & others.
Biden is an asshole for appointing Garland and not doing a damn thing to get rid of DeJoy. He never fought for reproductive rights or for voting rights. I'm tired of hearing about how wonderful Biden was.
Same here - for all the reasons you listed.
I mean, I respect people’s right to believe that about Biden & say so but I’ll never agree. Leaving DeJoy in place was another deliberate disaster of his own making. I don’t think he cared about the USPS being dismantled and having their rep destroyed. After all, when was the last time Biden opened his own mail?
Biden is an old fart living in the past. I am 74, a few months shy of 75, and claim the right to say that about him. He was also responsible for putting Boy Clarence on the Supreme Court, which was and is unforgiveable. Biden has never grasped that fascism was on the way.
He couldn’t remove DeJoy. Look at how the process works for USPS leadership. He did his best, appointed people when he could, but the indirect leadership style is why he was totally stymied.
Garland's complicity was obvious almost from the beginning of his term.
100% agree. That’s why it’s so awful that he was left in the job and not replaced.
The absolute wrong choice in 2020? He was the only person that could win.
Out of our entire population? Out of the group running then? I respectfully disagree.
I wonder how Fani Willis is feeling right now?
I ask that as a fan of her (however botched) endeavour,
I hope she is taking steps to preserve her safety & freedom. I also hope Leticia James and Alvin Bragg are too. All the brave men and women who actually stood up and did something are in danger. 💔
The one saving grace is that they operate under the New York system, where the Orange Valkyries' writ doesn't run as well as it does in...say... Florida
Her trist was not illegal but was a lapse of judgement; I don’t believe Judge Scott McAfee got it right with his harsh terminology “an odor of mendacity remains,” which became a quotable quote for the media and the defense. People are human (He who is without sin cast the first stone), but I wish they had thought this through before taking action.
We would have been better off to do what Brazil did, but I don't know that it would have helped. Would some other MAGA have filled the void if Trump were convicted? The Confederacy has arisen and Lincoln's work is effectively negated.
“Actually Lisa” you are the first post I’ve read on Substack that holds the whole bag of shit responsible for Trump’s win. I’m nauseated and trying to stop crying because in my heart Joe Biden and Merrick Garland are ultimately responsible for losing our democracy. Along with an eye opening corrupt judiciary, we all know about SCOTUS. But all these heinous criminal judges sitting in judgement of their own crimes is one big circle jerk. My faith in America is shaken to the foundations of my soul. I won’t recover.
Thank you for post this is where the real truth lies. It’s the last chance we’ll have to tell it.
I'm not giving up, I'm not giving in and I'm sure as hell not gonna shut up.
I'm in for the long haul.