I got about halfway through writing something on this topic but then realized after reading Glen Reynolds that I couldn’t say it better so go read this [1].
Here’s a taste:
Merrick Garland’s nomination to the Supreme Court by President Barack Obama died on base when Republicans refused to take it up. The seat was instead filled by now-Justice Neil Gorsuch. Garland’s consolation prize: becoming President Joe Biden’s attorney general. Yet in nine short months, he’s proved not only unfit to sit on the court but unfit to serve as attorney general. Indeed, his behavior suggests he’s not qualified for any federal position.
Garland’s nomination to the court was always iffy. Libertarians thought his track record was dangerously authoritarian. The trustees of the estate of the late Justice William Brennan, for whom Garland had clerked, inexplicably sealed records having to do with Garland’s time working at the court. And though Garland was touted as a “moderate,” a straight-shooter who could cruise to an easy confirmation, he satisfied neither the Democratic left nor the Republican center.
..
Well, they had him on fire in Congress the other day, and justifiably so. Here’s a taste of that.
Clearly this was an abuse of power on Garland’s part. The object? Removing, by force of law, any descent from the leftist ideology that he espouses. Not unlike the crowd that nominated him to the supreme Court.
There are a number of people asking the question whatever happened to civility in politics. My answer is this;
What happened to civility in politics? Authoritarian types like Merrick Garland.