With Joe Biden expected to name his choice for attorney general next week, sources close to the former vice president say he will turn to either one-time U.S. Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland or outgoing Sen. Doug Jones, D-Ala., as the nation’s top lawyer.
The betting among Biden-watchers is he will make a first offer of the position to Garland, 68, judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia since 1997.
Four years ago, President Barack Obama named Garland to the Supreme Court vacancy created by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia in February 2016.
But, led by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Senate Republicans refused to hold hearings on his nomination in the election year. Garland’s nomination was withdrawn when Obama left office, and President Donald Trump later named Neil Gorsuch to the vacancy on the high court.
Many Republicans, notably Sens. Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, wanted hearings on Garland. Naming him attorney general, as one Capitol Hill staffer put it, “gives Republicans the opportunity to finally vote for Garland.”
Conservatives also voiced little objection to the jurist.
“Judge Garland is liberal, but probably not a crazy, radical liberal like the others who have been touted as prospective attorneys general, such as [Democratic National Chairman] Tom Perez,” said Hans von Spakovsky, senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation.
Considered “right up there” with Garland for consideration as attorney general is Jones, who won a special election for the U.S. Senate in Alabama in 2017 to replace Republican Jeff Sessions, who became Trump’s attorney general, but lost a bid for a full term in November.
Jones, 66, has been hailed by civil rights group for his work as a U.S. attorney pursuing the 1963 bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church that killed four Black children. Jones secured the conviction of two Ku Klux Klansmen for the bombing in 1998.
The Alabamian also has a personal relationship with Biden, having worked on the Senate Judiciary Committee staff while Biden was chairman and served as state co-chairman of Biden’s first presidential campaign in 1988.
Still mentioned for attorney general but increasingly less are Sally Yates, former deputy attorney general under Obama, and former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick.
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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