The Atlantic
A Senate hearing for President Biden’s attorney-general nominee is surfacing some big questions.
February 22, 2021
This time around, Judge Merrick Garland is getting his hearing.
Not only is President Joe Biden’s nominee for attorney general receiving a Senate audience, but his confirmation seems very likely, a second difference from his 2016 nomination to the Supreme Court, which was stymied by then–Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
But there’s still an important question at stake in Garland’s nomination, and if confirmed, in his work as attorney general. The Trump presidency has both underscored and made more urgent a running debate over what exactly the U.S. Department of Justice is for.