Merrick Garland Exits With His Record Under Scrutiny And The Justice Department Bracing For Upheaval

During hearings on Merrick Garland's nomination to be President Joe Biden's attorney general , the longtime federal appeals court judge told senators in 2021 that he hoped to "turn down the volume" on the public discourse about the Justice Department and return to the days when the agency was not the "center of partisan disagreement."

It didn't go as planned.

Garland came in with a mission to calm the waters and restore the department's reputation for independence after four turbulent years under Republican President Donald Trump , who fired one attorney general and feuded with another . Now the soft-spoken Garland, who was denied a seat on the Supreme Court by the Republican-led Senate before Trump's 2016 election, is leaving with the department under siege on all sides and his own legacy in question.

Those on the right are incensed over the department's effort to hold Trump criminally responsible for his failed effort to overturn his 2020 election loss , and have accused prosecutors of going too easy on Biden's son Hunter . Democrats have claimed Garland failed to pursue Trump aggressively enough immediately after the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, and have criticized Garland's reliance on a special counsel, who, they thought, took gratuitous swipes at Biden.

Some senior Biden aides have said privately that Garland was the wrong choice for the job and they believe he bent too far backward to show he wasn't protecting the Democratic president.