Former U.S. Senator Doug Jones (D-AL) will not be the next U.S. attorney general.
It was reported widely on Wednesday that President-elect Joe Biden will instead nominate Judge Merrick Garland to lead the Department of Justice.
This comes after Democrats have appeared to win both U.S. Senate runoffs held Tuesday in Georgia, giving Democrats control of Congress’ upper chamber come January 20. This will result in Biden most likely being able to fill Garland’s current seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, allowing him to be safely picked for attorney general.
Jones, Garland and former acting U.S. Attorney General Sally Yates were said to be on Biden’s shortlist for AG.
Before being appointed to the federal bench by then-President Bill Clinton in 1997, Garland attended Harvard University for his undergraduate and legal education. After serving as a law clerk to Judge Henry J. Friendly of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and Justice William J. Brennan Jr. of the Supreme Court of the United States, Garland practiced corporate litigation and then worked as a federal prosecutor, playing a leading role in the investigation and prosecution of the Oklahoma City bombers.
Garland has been chief judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit since 2013. He was nominated to serve as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States in 2016 by then-President Barack Obama, but the nomination did not advance in the Senate.
The Associated Press reported that Biden is expected to announce Garland’s nomination on Thursday, “along with other senior leaders of the department, including former homeland security adviser Lisa Monaco as deputy attorney general and former Justice Department civil rights chief Vanita Gupta as associate attorney general, the No. 3 official. He will also name an assistant attorney general for civil rights, Kristen Clarke, the president of Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, an advocacy group.”
Sean Ross is the editor of Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn
