Attorney General Merrick Garland, nearing the end of his tenure leading the Justice Department, told career prosecutors Monday that they are the “backbone” of the Justice Department and urged them to continue to “uphold the rule of law.”
In his first public comments since President-elect Donald Trump selected former Rep. Matt Gaetz as his pick to run the Justice Department, Garland told prosecutors at the Southern District of New York to continue to protect the department’s “mission.”
Gaetz has derided the Justice Department as rife with members of the so-called “deep state” hostile to Trump.
“You can’t just have the same career people who have grown up in a system that has fallen victim to political capture,” Gaetz said in an interview this summer.
On Monday, Garland sought to rally department employees as he wraps up a tenure that has been overshadowed at times by investigations involving Trump but also has featured corruption cases against prominent Democrats such as Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey.
“I may be coming to the end of my tenure at the Justice Department, but I know that all of you will continue in the department’s mission – what has always been its mission – to uphold the rule of law, keep our country safe and to protect civil rights,” Garland said.
He continued: “The career lawyers of the Justice Department as a whole, you are the institutional backbone of this department. You are the historical memory of this department. You are the heart and soul of the department. You are the Justice Department.”
Garland has not publicly addressed Trump’s selection of Gaetz, but his comments come after Gaetz’s nomination shocked the department and concerned some Justice Department officials that his appointment will cause more people to leave either voluntarily or as part of efforts to push out employees who aren’t seen as loyal to the incoming administration.
“I could not be more proud of you, and I could not be more grateful for all of the work that you have done to protect the American people,” Garland said Monday.
Garland’s comments stand in contrast to the way his predecessor and likely successor have described the career ranks. Attorney General William Barr derided the traditional deference that top leaders have afforded to the department’s career employees, whose work often spans administrations of both major political parties.
“Letting the most junior members set the agenda might be a good philosophy for a Montessori preschool, but it’s no way to run a federal agency,” Barr said in a 2020 speech.
At the time, Barr was reacting to pushback from career attorneys and even some political appointees who criticized his intervention in politically sensitive cases that were important to Trump. Barr overruled career lawyers in the sentencing of Trump ally Roger Stone and ordered a review of the prosecution of Gen. Mike Flynn, leading to the department to drop the criminal charges.
Garland is making his final set of visits to US attorneys’ offices around the country, still short a handful of districts that he won’t be able to reach before his departure. Attorneys general traditionally make an effort to visit all US attorneys while they serve, a sprawling goal made more difficult now that the 94th US attorney’s office is a district that covers Guam and the North Mariana Islands.
