Merrick Garland places home terror and civil rights at prime of justice agenda | US justice system

The new attorney general, Merrick Garland, has signaled an ambitious agenda to fight domestic terrorism in America, including white supremacists and hate crimes, while strengthening civil and voting rights, critical areas narrowly shrunk by the Trump administration, say former federal prosecutors and members of Congress.

The Justice Department shift represents one of the worst twists and turns under Trump-era Joe Biden. Under former Attorney General Bill Barr, the Justice Department was often viewed as Trump, with the former President accused of practically treating it as his own legal service.

But while Garland got high marks for several early initiatives and priorities, the former senior judge has still focused his work on rebuilding key parts of the agency, Justice Department observers say.

In two Congressional appearances this month, Garland said fighting domestic terrorism was his “top priority” after the January 6 attack on the Capitol, and called for new resources to that end, while early steps to address it Expand civil rights and enforce voting rights too.

On May 12, at a Senate hearing in the Senate, Garland outlined some of his early steps to counter domestic terrorism, highlighting efforts to work with foreign allies and tech firms to address the growing threat of increased violence following the Capitol Insurrection, which, according to Washington The Post, has filed more than 2,000 criminal charges against 411 suspects.

Garland, who in a previous judicial residency in 1995 led the investigation into the bombing of a federal building in Oklahoma City that killed 168 people, stated in his testimony that the greatest domestic threat comes from “racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists”, and highlighted “those who work for the superiority of the white race”.

In an early civil rights initiative, the day after a grand jury convicted white ex-cop Derek Chauvin of the murder of George Floyd, Garland personally announced that the division was opening an investigation into whether the Minneapolis Police Department of a possible pattern of discrimination and excessive violence .

To oversee civil rights, Biden has tapped two prominent veterans in the field: Kristen Clarke, who is pending Senate confirmation that she will be the first black woman to head the civil rights division, and Pamela Karlan, number two in the division . Both have received praise from former prosecutors for voting rights

Karlan has already plunged into the urge of the Arizona Senate Republicans to overthrow Joe Biden’s election victory by recruiting an inexperienced firm, Cyber ​​Ninjas – led by a man who has stated he is with Trump Erroneous conspiracy claims that the election was stolen is synchronous leading to a recount of 2.1 million votes in the state’s largest county. Karlan wrote to a top Arizona lawmaker last week expressing strong concerns that the recount might violate voter intimidation laws and violate ballot safety rules.

Some former Supreme Justice attorneys and members of Congress hope Garland can realign the policies of those under Barr and his predecessor Jeff Sessions, but warn that Garland faces several obstacles, including civil rights enforcement and the Could hinder the fight against domestic terrorism

Michael Bromwich, a former Inspector General of Justice, said in an interview, “You had a lot of very skilled people in the Civil Rights Department who decided they couldn’t come to terms with Bill Barr and Jeff Sessions [and so left]. I think they will have a staffing problem due to the bleeding in recent years. “

Likewise, Bromwich notes that the FBI’s shift from its two-decade focus on foreign terrorism to domestic terrorism after September 11th will require some work. “The FBI is like an ocean liner, it’s hard to move,” said Bromwich.

“Everyone now recognizes that foreign terrorism is not as great a threat as domestic terrorism,” he added, noting that FBI director Chris Wray understood the gravity of the domestic threat and testified before Congress last year, that the primary threat comes from far-right and white supremacist groups.

Some members of Congress see other major challenges in rooting out right-wing extremism.

“Donald Trump threw kerosene on an already growing right-wing extremist fire,” said Senator Sheldon Whitehouse. “Now the department needs a strategy to get the funders, organizers and platforms behind it a look at the January 6th Confederate flag insurgents.”

Similarly, Whitehouse sees some barriers to curbing growing voter suppression efforts across the country. “A top priority for large Republican donors is a comprehensive, dark-money-funded campaign to suppress voters. That’s why Republicans are pushing voter suppression laws in every state house in the country, and why the top agent of the right-wing campaign to capture our courts switched entirely to vote suppression last year.

“The Justice Department needs a strong, talented electoral team, and the entire Biden government needs a strategy to counter the dark money forces who are carrying out this voter suppression operation.” Whitehouse stressed.

Garland made domestic terrorism his top priority after the January 6 riot. Photo: Roberto Schmidt / AFP / Getty Images

Of course, Garland’s early political moves and budget inquiries suggest he is moving quickly to realign the department’s priorities

To bolster civil rights work, Garland asked Congress for $ 209 million – or $ 33 million more than last year – which he stressed in order to track the wave of hate crimes against Asian Americans during the pandemic and ensure the right to vote expanded as Republican efforts to contain it in many states are now underway.

On May 4, Garland said in a House statement that he was aiming for a budget increase of over $ 100 million to fund the fight against domestic terrorism: the new budget provides an additional $ 45 million for the FBI ahead to expand his domestic terrorism investigation, and $ 40 I’m more for US attorneys to handle these cases.

Democratic Congressman Tom Malinowski said in an interview that the changes on Garland’s watch were encouraging. “I was very happy to see their move in Arizona and restore historical roles in civil and voting rights enforcement.”

Some department franchise veterans are also confident about the ongoing changes.

“In the Trump years, the DoJ was lacking in terms of enforcing civil rights – especially in the world of voting rights,” said Gerry Hebert, who was senior attorney in the voting rights division for over 20 years.

But Karlan and Clarke, Hebert said, are “superstars in the civil rights community … and will be game changers because they know how tough enforcement of civil rights laws makes the lives of all Americans better.”