‘A troubling history’: Biden’s AG pick Merrick Garland has record of not holding cops accountable

Joe Biden has formally nominated Merrick Garland for attorney general. Garland has served on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals for over two decades and previously worked at the Justice Department, where he prosecuted the Oklahoma City bombing case. President Obama nominated Garland in 2016 to serve on the Supreme Court, but the nomination stalled after Republican senators refused to put it up for a vote. Elie Mystal, justice correspondent for The Nation, says Garland is an “underwhelming” pick, given his judicial record. “People need to remember that Garland was picked for the Supreme Court because he was a compromise candidate,” says Mystal. “This is a centrist jurist who has a history — a troubling history, to me — of being deferential to police and being unwilling to hold police accountable for acts of brutality and misconduct.”