We applaud the nomination of Judge Merrick Garland to be the attorney general of the United States. Any appointment of an attorney general is a significant event in the life of our country. The Garland nomination is especially meaningful because it promises to repair the damage the last four years have done to the Department of Justice. Upon confirmation, we are confident that the luster of and respect for the Department of Justice and the people who will staff it will be restored. The record for integrity, competence and judicial independence of Merrick Garland is well established.

The attorney general is the chief law enforcement officer of our country and, as President Biden stated when he announced the nomination of Judge Garland, he will not be the president’s lawyer. He will be the people’s lawyer. That fact should come as a relief to the people of the country that had come to believe in recent years that the opposite was true.