Civil Rights Organizations Urge Senate to Confirm Garland As Attorney General

Media 02.22.21

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
Contact: Stephen Peters, [email protected]

WASHINGTON — Pointing out America is in dire need of a course correction at the Justice Department, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights released a letter today signed by 59 organizations urging the Senate to consider and confirm Judge Merrick Garland as Attorney General of the United States. The organizations also urged Senators to ask Judge Garland questions during the confirmation process about his views on a full array of civil rights and criminal justice policy matters. 

“The Attorneys General who served under President Trump deeply tarnished the reputation of the Department of Justice (DOJ), which has been aptly called the “crown jewel” of the federal government because of its historic commitment to integrity, independence, and civil rights enforcement. From their unconscionable attempts to validate President Trump’s subversion of voting rights and our democracy, to their inhumane separation of immigrant families at the border, to their abuses of our criminal justice system, Attorneys General Barr and Sessions often served as Trump loyalists rather than independent law enforcement officials,” the organizations state in the letter.

“This nation needs a Justice Department that will do everything in its power to fight for voting rights, police reform, criminal justice, LBGTQ equality, disability rights, environmental justice, and other pressing civil and human rights issues,” continued the organizations. “We need an Attorney General who knows the Justice Department well and can pick up from where the Obama-Biden administration left off and go bolder. We need an Attorney General who will reinstate the Justice Department’s historic commitment to integrity, independence, and vigorous civil rights enforcement. Judge Garland would be such an Attorney General and is a fitting choice to lead the Justice Department at this moment.”

The full letter is available here.

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights is a coalition charged by its diverse membership of more than 220 national organizations to promote and protect the rights of all persons in the United States. The Leadership Conference works toward an America as good as its ideals. For more information on The Leadership Conference and its member organizations, visit www.civilrights.org.

###