PoliticoUS Senate confirms Merrick Garland as Joe Biden’s attorney general
- The 70-30 vote came almost five years to the day after the judge‘s initial Supreme Court nomination during the Barack Obama era
- Garland’s nomination has faced little opposition, although Republicans have pressed him on separate investigations involving Donald Trump and Hunter Biden
This story is published in a content partnership with POLITICO. It was originally reported by Josh Gerstein on politico.com on March 10, 2021.
The US Senate has confirmed President Joe Biden’s pick for attorney general, Judge Merrick Garland, by a vote of 70-30.
The victory for Garland, 68, came almost five years after his failed nomination to the Supreme Court by President Barack Obama in 2016. The Senate, then under Republican control, denied Garland a hearing or vote.
Garland, who has been a judge on the powerful DC Circuit Court of Appeals since 1997, received the support of every Democrat and 20 Republicans. Several potential Republican presidential hopefuls voted against Garland’s confirmation, including Senators Ben Sasse of Nebraska and Tom Cotton of Arkansas.
Garland encountered little resistance at his confirmation hearing last month, although Republicans pressed him to promise that he would not interfere with an ongoing special counsel investigation into the origins of the FBI probe of alleged ties between the Trump campaign and Russia.