U.S. SENATE CONFIRMS MERRICK GARLAND AS ATTORNEY GENERAL

The US Senate on Wednesday voted overwhelmingly to confirm Merrick Garland, President Joe Biden’s nominee for attorney general, as the federal appellate judge won the support even of the chamber’s top Republican, Mitch McConnell, who played a key role in denying him a spot on the Supreme Court in 2016, Sarah N. Lynch reported for Reuters.

The bipartisan tally in the Democratic-led Senate was 70-30 to confirm Garland as the top US law enforcement official, with 20 of the chamber’s 50 Republicans including McConnell and former Judiciary Committee chairmen Lindsey Graham and Chuck Grassley joining Biden’s fellow Democrats in support.

Garland, 68, will assume the post at a time of heightened concern about domestic extremism. He takes over a Justice Department that Republican former President Donald Trump repeatedly sought to bend to his will.

The former federal prosecutor also inherits sensitive ongoing investigations including one involving Biden’s son. “I’m voting to confirm Judge Garland because of his long reputation as a straight-shooter and legal expert,” McConnell said before the vote. “His left-of-center perspective has been within the legal mainstream.”

The vote represented some measure of vindication for Garland. The Senate in 2016, then controlled by Republicans, refused to consider his nomination to the Supreme Court by Democratic President Barack Obama and declined even to give him a confirmation hearing.

By doing so, the Republicans, led by then-Majority Leader McConnell, enabled a Republican president, Trump, in 2017 to fill a Supreme Court vacancy with a conservative justice.

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