Please call your two Senators and voice your support for the nomination of Merrick Garland as United States Attorney General.
Confirmation hearings for Garland are scheduled to begin today, Monday, February 22, 2021.
While Garland might not be an absolutely perfect nominee (and it should be said that the perfect nominee does not exist), he’s a strong one. He gained experience in investigating domestic terrorism when he ran the Department of Justice (DOJ)’s probe of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing; that experience should enhance the DOJ’s current efforts with regard to the January 6 Insurrection at the Capitol Building.
Garland remains as well-liked as he was when President Obama nominated him to the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS). One of the reasons then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was determined to deny Garland a hearing was he knew that if he did get one, he would almost certainly win enough votes to ascend to the highest court in the land. Four former U.S. attorneys general–two Republican appointees and two Democratic appointees–are among 150 alumni of the DOJ and similar organizations who signed a letter in support of Garland’s nomination.
Many feel Garland is well-fitted to depoliticize the DOJ after the grave institutional damage inflicted by the Trump years. His to-do list would also include rebuilding the DOJ’s civil rights division, which Trump minions did their best to shred.
Cites:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/12/10/case-merrick-garland-attorney-general/
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-senate-justice-garland-idUSKBN2AJ16S
We at OTYCD expect to ask you to make a pro-Garland call today; when the Senate Judiciary Committee votes to move the nomination to the Senate floor; and a third time when the Senate floor vote is imminent.
You’re only calling your two Senators for this one, as weighing high-ranking nominations within a president’s administration falls to that chamber.
Before placing your call, please check the social media feeds and press release sections of your Senators’ websites to see what they’ve said, or failed to say, about Garland and his AG nomination.
Find your Senators’ contact information, and help others find their Senators’ information, here:
whoaremyrepresentatives.org
If one or both of your Senators belong to the chamber’s Judicial Committee, it is extra-important that you call.
The list of 2021 Senate Judicial Committee members is linked below, but we will also list them in full.
https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/about/members
The Senate Judiciary Committee as of February 2021 is under Democratic Party control and consists of:
Chair Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois
Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont
Senator Dianne Feinstein of California
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island
Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota
Senator Chris Coons of Delaware
Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut
Senator Mazie Hirono of Hawaii
Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey
Senator Alex Padilla of California (Governor Gavin Newsom appointed him to finish Kamala Harris’s term)
Senator Jon Ossoff of Georgia
As of February 2021, the Republican minority members of the Senate Judiciary Committee are:
Ranking Member Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa
Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina
Senator John Cornyn of Texas
Senator Mike Lee of Utah
Senator Ted Cruz of Texas
Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska
Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri
Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas
Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana
Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina
Senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee
Sample calling script:
“Dear <Senator Lastname,> I am <Firstname Lastname> from <town, state, zip code>. I’m calling to ask you to support the nomination of Merrick Garland as United States Attorney General.
He has the experience and the competence to lead the Department of Justice through the many challenges it currently faces, including investigations of the January 6 Insurrection at the Capitol Building, rebuilding the civil rights division, and restoring confidence in the DOJ after four years of attempts, some successful, to politicize it under Trump.
<If one or both of your Senators are Democrats on the Judiciary Committee: I understand you are on the Senate Judiciary Committee. I expect you to take Garland’s confirmation hearings seriously and do your job both as a committee member and a Senator.>
<If one or both of your Senators are Republicans on the Judiciary Committee: I understand you are on the Senate Judiciary Committee. I expect you to take Garland’s confirmation hearings seriously, and in particular, I expect you to ask substantiative, questions that might be antagonistic but are still within bounds, and I expect you to avoid grandstanding and bloviating about current or potential investigations of Hunter Biden and Trump.>
Thank you for taking my call.”
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