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Merrick Garland’s No-Win Scenario
It would not have mattered. Had Antonin Scalia died December 31, 2015 instead of February 13, 2016, it wouldn’t of mattered. Because, no matter what, Mitch McConnell was never going to allow President Obama a third Supreme Court justice. It was about obstructing Obama and humiliating his never-had-a-chance nominee, Merrick Garland.
Except, Garland was never humiliated. He went to work every day as the Chief Justice of the United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, a post he held from 2013–2021.
A week ago, The Atlantic’s Franklin Foer wrote an article/opinion piece on how Garland, faced with all the evidence, “reached the conclusion that his devotion to procedure, his belief in the rule of law, and in particular his reverence for the duties, responsibilities, and traditions of the U.S. Department of Justice will cause him to make the most monumental decision an attorney general can make,” the writer predicts.
The piece, titled “The Inevitable Indictment of Donald Trump,” lays bare the long past time to put America’s les terrible enfant, con artist and liar in a courtroom for any number of crimes he’s committed.
While historic and unprecedented, it would signal an end to El Caudillo del Mar-A-Lago’s reign of bluster and bullshit. Of course, half the country would lose their minds and…
