Merrick Garland’s legacy is a masterclass in selective justice wrapped in sanctimony. To many of us, he didn’t steward the Department of Justice — he weaponized it, blessed it with lawyerly euphemisms, and walked away whistling. Start with Congress: when the people’s House demanded the audio of President Biden’s Hur-interview, Garland stonewalled, got held in contempt, and the DOJ naturally refused to prosecute its own boss. Accountability? Not for him. That contempt vote wasn’t a vibe; it was a formal rebuke for defying oversight.
Look at faith and speech. Under Garland’s watch, the FBI circulated that now-infamous Richmond memo targeting “radical-traditionalist Catholics” for “tripwire and source development” — a stunning bureaucratic slur that should chill every believer who dares to be devout. Lawmakers grilled him for it; the memo was retracted, but the damage was done: the federal security state had put a crosshair on a subset of Catholics. That is not “protecting civil rights”; that’s profiling by creed, then pretending it didn’t happen.
Parents felt the boot, too. As school-board meetings erupted nationwide, DOJ rushed out an October 2021 memo promising coordinated federal action against threats. Threats of violence are illegal — fine. But the practical effect was unmistakable: chill the loudest dissenters, most of whom were parents furious about what was happening in their kids’ schools. Even the National School Boards Association later apologized for its letter that helped tee it up. Critics saw Garland’s memo as federal muscle aimed at moms and dads. Tell me how that squares with the First Amendment.
Merrick Garland with President Biden in the East Room of the White House
Then there’s the double standard that defined his tenure: pro-life activists faced aggressive FACE Act prosecutions, SWAT-style arrests, and years in court — even when juries swiftly acquitted. Meanwhile, attacks on churches and crisis-pregnancy centers surged and too often languished. Garland waved at “resource allocation” and visibility; the public saw a thumb on the scales. Justice isn’t supposed to be “who you are and what you believe.” Under Garland, it looked an awful lot like exactly that.
And about “going after a sitting president”? Garland green-lit special counsels that drove criminal prosecutions of Donald Trump — unprecedented steps that, whether you cheer them or not, detonated whatever remained of Americans’ trust that DOJ stands above politics. Even AP’s straight-news exit coverage admits his tenure ended under a cloud of cross-partisan dissatisfaction, with the department bracing for upheaval. That is not the track record of a healer. It’s the footprint of a polarizer.
Now comes the revolving door’s ta-da moment: after leaving office, Garland lands comfortably at Arnold & Porter, a premier D.C. firm with a long résumé of ideological lawfare. Power served, power rewarded. Washington writes the same ending to the same story, every time — and we’re supposed to clap politely. No thanks.
Call it what you want — I call it a betrayal of equal justice. Faithful Catholics flagged as radicals. Parents treated as suspects. Pro-lifers hauled into court while vandals walk. Congress stiff-armed. And the man at the center of it all steps into a plush partnership like it’s a medal ceremony. America deserves better than this cynical, calculated, two-tier “justice.” We deserve an Attorney General who fears God, respects the Constitution, and knows the difference between public service and political warfare. Under Merrick Garland, we got the opposite — and the country is now paying the price.
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