WP: Garland tries to untangle the Trump legacy at the Justice Department

[StarfishSaver]

Three months into his new job, judge-turned-attorney general Merrick Garland, who inherited a demoralized and politicized Justice Department, is facing criticism from some Democrats that he is not doing enough to quickly expunge Trump-era policies and practices.

On a host of issues ranging from leak investigations to civil and criminal cases involving former president Donald Trump, Garland has been beset by a growing chorus of congressional second-guessers, even as he insists he is scrupulously adhering to the principles of equal justice under the law.

How he charts his way through the current controversies and still-unresolved politically sensitive cases is likely to determine how much of a long-term impact the Trump presidency has on the Justice Department.

“It’s a difficult situation to navigate. The Department of Justice is an institution like an ocean liner — it doesn’t turn around easily,” said Ronald Weich, who served as an assistant attorney general in the early days of the Obama administration.

Within that big ship, there are thousands of career prosecutors and lawyers toiling away on a host of cases that have political implications. During the Trump era, current and former Justice Department lawyers decried what they saw as the politicization of legal decisions.
...
“It’s not going to happen overnight, and it’s not going to happen in bulk,” said Weich, now the dean of the law school at the University of Baltimore. “Judge Garland is a very careful lawyer, and he is going to proceed very carefully.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/merrick-garland-doj-trump-legacy/2021/06/20/d83e1fd0-d05e-11eb-a7f1-52b8870bef7c_story.html

[cilla4progress]

1. Listened to an interesting discussion on this on a podcast

- OnPoint.

Serious minds can differ.

[zipplewrath]

2. It's not an easy job

But it didn't take Trump long to politicize the department, so it can be undone equally as fast, if not faster. Quite honestly, it should have been a fairly quick effort to identify those cases/efforts that were entirely politically motivated and terminate them. Yes, that would still leave a large number that unfortunately left issues to be resolved. But none the less it would probably have satisfied most critics.

[StarfishSaver]

3. You think the fact that Trump politicized DOJ quickly means it can be fixed just as fast?

Really?

Wow.

It doesn't work that way.

[Disaffected]

5. Can't you disagree without

being rude about it?

[zipplewrath]

10. Blatantly political changes

Those that are blatantly political can be changed quickly. Mostly that means just shutting down investigations that have no founding.

[StarfishSaver]

11. That's very different from your original suggestion

But how do you know that hasn't been done? Are you familiar with every investigation DOJ has undertaken in the last few years, which ones were still ongoing when Garland took over, which ones had no merit, which ones were shut down and which ones remain open?

[agingdem]

6. Define "quickly"?

four years is not "quickly"...Trump/Sessions/Barr/Rosenstein dismantled and decimated the Department of Justice...and they corrupted every department and government agency..Garland has been in office a little over 16 weeks and unlike his reptilian predecessors he follows the law...allow him to do his job

[Takket]

4. i think also to the point, Garland was a Federal Judge

and he's not letting anything past his desk that wouldn't have made it past his bench.

[keithbvadu2]

7. Trump and his supporters are leaving their own deep state.

Trump and his supporters are leaving their own deep state.

[tavernier]

8. I suppose that's true

But as a new broom, I would think he should be sweeping much more quickly and thoroughly since the dirt is obviously knee high and choking out our democracy.

[StarfishSaver]

12. Very easy to say, especially if you have no responsibility for doing it

Much more difficult for the people who actually have the responsibility to do.

[tavernier]

13. I have no argument with that.

I just have to wonder why republicans seem to get their mischief done so quickly and efficiently when they hold the baton.

[StarfishSaver]

15. Because it takes very little effort to tear things down

But it's exponentially harder to repair and build back up.

Democrats are always in the position of having to fix and build things which takes much longer and is much more complicated than just destroying everything in your path the way Republicans do. But then they get blamed for not moving as quickly as Republicans When they're trying to do something altogether different.

[Chainfire]

9. If they made me king of the DOJ for a day

I would fire everyone who owned a red tie.

[kentuck]

14. It's a mess, for sure.

It will not be easy to fix.

"A jackass can kick a barn down, but it takes a carpenter to build one."

Sam Rayburn

[StarfishSaver]

16. THIS!!!

[LetMyPeopleVote]

17. It took Eric Holder and Tom Perez a long time to unscrew up the DOJ Civil and voting rights division

Bush screwed up these division. Heck, an idiot named Christian Adams was somehow hired for the voting rights division even though this idiot was from a then tier three law school and had no qualifications. Adams is the idiot who pushed the New Black Panther stupidity and is now representing True the Vote (a group of racist assholes). Cleaning ups the DOJ will take time

[Roisin Ni Fiachra]

18. It will take awhile to root out the traitors. Much research must be done,

much documentation examined.