Attorney General Merrick Garland has been dogged by accusations of weaponizing the Department of Justice against President Joe Biden’s enemies since even before he took office, and those complaints just got new traction after news of a federal indictment of former President Trump.
The charge that Garland, who was once nominated for the Supreme Court by then-President Obama, sics his prosecutors on conservatives while giving Democrats a pass was the subject of a March report by the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government and the House Judiciary Committee. That report showed internal communications between Biden Administration and National School Boards Association led to Garland’s infamous October 4, 2021 memo directing the FBI and federal prosecutors around the nation to consider parents who protest at school board meetings as potential domestic terrorists.
“Attorney General Garland is weaponizing the DOJ by using the FBI to pursue concerned parents and silence them through intimidation. Florida will defend the free speech rights of its citizens and will not allow federal agents to squelch dissent,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis tweeted.
Attorney General Garland is weaponizing the DOJ by using the FBI to pursue concerned parents and silence them through intimidation.
Florida will defend the free speech rights of its citizens and will not allow federal agents to squelch dissent.
— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) October 5, 2021
“At his confirmation hearing, Merrick Garland promised not to follow the Obama model of weaponizing DOJ to target and persecute his political opponents. Just a few months in, he’s already breaking that promise,” Texas GOP senator Ted Cruz echoed.
At his confirmation hearing, Merrick Garland promised not to follow the Obama model of weaponizing DOJ to target & persecute his political opponents.
Just a few months in, he’s already breaking that promise.#CriticalRaceTheory https://t.co/mkYVcZY4sm
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) October 5, 2021
More questions about Garland’s commitment to fair enforcement of the law have arisen from the DOJ’s prior treatment of Trump, its apparent refusal to prosecute Hunter Biden for numerous alleged crimes documented on his abandoned laptop, and its kid-glove handling of President Biden’s own classified documents scandal.
After the August 2022 raid on Trump’s home at Mar-a-Lago, former Missouri Attorney General and current U.S. Sen. Eric Schmitt blasted the nation’s top lawman.
“The weaponization of Biden’s DOJ against political enemies is unprecedented. DOJ targeting Trump DOJ targeting parents DOJ targeting gun owners DOJ ignoring illegal intimidation against Justices DOJ ignoring Hunter Biden 87k new IRS agents coming. This is Banana Republic stuff.”
The weaponization of Biden’s DOJ against political enemies is unprecedented
DOJ targeting Trump
DOJ targeting parents
DOJ targeting gun owners
DOJ ignoring illegal intimidation against Justices
DOJ ignoring Hunter Biden
87k new IRS agents comingThis is Banana Republic stuff.
— Eric Schmitt (@Eric_Schmitt) August 9, 2022
But Garland’s leftist leanings have been in evidence for decades.
As a student at Harvard University in the early 1970s, Garland sought and obtained two student deferments from serving in the Vietnam War in 1971, then another in 1973.
Meanwhile, in 1973, Garland initiated formal debate on a campus referendum on the ban keeping ROTC off campus, which had been instituted in 1969. The Boston Globe reported that Garland was a vocal opponent of allowing the ROTC to return to the Cambridge campus. Garland’s anti-military stance was convenient for him, as his 1971 2-S deferments were obtained because of his “activity in study,” while other students at Harvard served in the armed services even though they were enrolled at Harvard. According to the Harvard Crimson, some students used a semester off to serve in the National Guard, a service entailing four to six months of duty and further service during summer vacations.
Arkansas Republican Sen. Tom Cotton in March of 2021 opposed confirming Garland as attorney general, writing that Garland would turn the Department of Justice over to extremists within.
“When he did answer questions, he sounded more like a liberal ideologue who would embrace the radical agenda of the Democratic party’s far left base,” Cotton wrote. “If confirmed, I’m afraid that he’ll enable extremists in the Justice Department to undermine our police, our Constitution, and our rule of law.”